Shades of Justice: Page 39

Technarious's new body was laid on the table. The old was was sitting on the floor, leaned up against the side of the table like a forgotten toy.

The Shades stood around the table. Each looking from the old body, to the new body, and then around to the other Shades. Everyone was waiting for someone else to take the lead. It was Gordon who broke the silence. "Soooo, now what?" he asked fidgeting nervously with his glasses.

Warren shrugged. "Computer, are there any files or instructions in your system that explain how to transfer Technarious' consciousness unit from one body to another?" He asked.

There was slight pause. "Searching." The computer finally replied.

The tense silence returned. Mark was pacing, Dante was still sitting by Sonya's bed. Her hand was cradled in his. Mark was pacing quickly, muttering to himself.

The computer chimed in again. "There are no references to Technarious that include anything relating to mind, consciousness, or body transfer, I am sorry." The computer finished.

Mark stopped pacing and looked as if he had been struck by lightening. "It's not in the computer!" He almost shouted. Before he practically ran over to the shattered light wall. He carefully reached out and the others watched as he was able to slowly wedge his hand behind the shattered wall of crystals.


"What are you doing?" Kelly asked.

Mark gritted his teeth as he carefully felt around for what ever he was looking for. "Got it!" He shouted. He pulled the manual lever and a piece of the wall right next to his shoulders slid open. He pulled his hand out and looked inside the tiny area. The others ran over to join him. There was nothing inside the little hidden area except a book titled. 'Maintenance And Repair Manual.' Mark grabbed the book and flipped it open to the index. He ran his finger down the list until he found 'Memory unit.' and flipped to the page that was listed. He scanned the page for a second and then closed the book around his finger. Ran over to the old Technarious body. "Lift this up and place it over a console so the back of his head is up towards us." he instructed.

 Warren and Gordon grabbed the body and gently laid it over the nearest console. With his free hand Mark felt the edge of the back of Technarious' head until he found a numb, slid his pinky finger under it and was able to press a button.

From the back first, Techanious' head opened like the most intricate and detailed Tackle box ever created. layers upon layers of hardware and circuitry were exposed one layer at a time. Once the head was completely open Mark and the rest of the Shades looked inside at what they had discovered.

Warren looked to Mark. "You sure about this?" He asked.

Mark looked from the head back to the instruction manual and took a deep breath.

Blood and Profit: Page 62

Once the pattern cleared, Kepi was directed to the senate landing site. Once she touched down she was escorted from her shuttle by one valet as another jumped on board to actually park her shuttle elsewhere.

The valet led her to a electric kart, and drove her to a bus  that looked to be pretty full. She hopped on board and the driver closed the door behind her and slowly headed for the senate building. Kepi saw the only seat available was the one in front of Fletcher. She widened her fake smile and sat in the seat. "So," She started. "The response to the cal for ships has been pretty incredible." She said.

He nodded slowly. "It's a good start." He replied, looking out the window. "But we've got a long way to go." He looked back at her.

Kepi nodded. "How hard can it be?" She asked. "What ever gets left here is going to revert to the most basic matter in the universe. Do you really think there are going to be people who refuse to lend a hand out of sheer spite?" she spat.

He shook his head. "You misunderstand." he replied. "I am not worried that there's not enough interest in getting off the planet." He sighed. "I am worried there is too much interest." He explained.

Kepi rolled her eyes. "Of course you are Fletcher, God forbid too many people want to escape before it's too late." Sarcasm dripped from her lips.

Fletcher glared at her. "You think I want these people to die?" He spat. He looked around the bus and leaned as closed as his girth would allow, and then whispered. "Kepi we don't have the resources to get three hundred million people off this planet." His voice was rushed. "If we have the space, fuel, and supplies to get even a hundred million of us to earth I'll be shocked." He admitted.

The numbers hit Kepi like a ton of bricks. She never taken the colony population from theoretical to actual fact in her mind. She had been prepared for Greed, not for resource limitations.

The color drained from her face.

Fletcher sat back and took a few breaths. Kepi looked like she might cry. He patted her arm  "Don't worry, we have options and plans and hard decisions to make." He said as soothingly as possible. "They aren't going to be easy to make, but that's why we were elected to make them, right?" He gave her an awkward empty smile. She nodded and smiled back in a way that betrayed the fact that she was heavily considering throwing up on the floor of the bus.

Lidarion: Page 34

As powerful as the titans were, the creation of new life was not something they were capable of. They discovered how ever that they had the ability to bind massive amounts of natural energy within natural elements.

First they experimented with earth. The resulting race of Golems were by Titan standards, small and imperfect creatures. They did however possess the single trait their creators desired. They were obsessed with the care and maintenance of land. They preferred to dwell within the mountains and stay below ground where possible. Over time they dug massive and highly impressive tunnel cities that remained impressive feats of engineering even to present day. But the Golem's were a short lived race. Eventually they all slowed and crumbled to dust, leaving only their empty stone cities behind.

Not long after the Golems began to fade, the Titan's discovered that the larger they made the construct the more energy it could hold. Thus they created a statue they named Moun Tain. It easily dwarfed even the most impressive of the Titans and held more energy than they thought possible to ever use. Upon his creation he walked the earth, but only once. It was the only time the Titans worried they had made a mistake. Moun Tain's walk was known among the other races as the Time of Tremors.

By this time the Elves had spread around the planet. Some tribes went high into the mountains and discovered the first tribe of sentient bovines, still walking on four legs. Other tribes of elves traveled deep into the darkest forests and learned quickly to avoid the earliest packs of sentient rat creatures. Many tribes of elves had settled by and on the oceans, eventually adapting to their surroundings and becoming the gnomes and mermaids. Other tribes explored the mountain tunnels left behind by the first Golems, after several generations they adapted to life in and underground and called themselves Dwarfs. The high mountain tribes bonded with the bovine tribes and declared themselves wild. In the plains Elves found the hard work of taming the land and building towns turned them to stockier rougher tan skinned creatures over time and they became known as Humans.

Moun Tain's journey reunited the shattered bloodlines of the Elven race in a moment of global history. Each race recorded the Time of Tremors in their own way, it was the last time the children of Elves would be peacefully united.

Moun Tain ended his journey at the beacon of the Gods. The largest mountain on the planet. He sat on the mountain and quickly fell asleep. Over time the land grew up around him until he was nothing more than a long forgotten shadow within the mountain.

Melody and Harmony: Page 8

Foster didn't go home. His older brother was most likely already drunk but not passed out yet and Foster had no desire to be the dumping ground for the last twenty four hours of disappointment that was his brothers life.

Not far from his family's apartment there was an all night diner. Foster has seem many dusty sun rises from behind the diner's dirty shielded windows. It was the closest thing to home he could think of.

With time to kill he took the booth furthest back in the corner of the diner. He ordered a soda and a slice of artificial cherry pie, set his pack on the table, pulled the main compartment zipper open and grabbed the med kit. He shoved his bag under the table. "Hey Pops!" The line cook and owner of the diner stuck his head out of the kitchen. "lock the door would'ya? I'm leaving my stuff out here while I get cleaned up." Pop nodded and pressed his hand into a command console on the wall, locking the doors.

Foster ducked into the bathroom tenderly. The adrenaline from his daring escape was wearing off and he was starting to feel the effects of the cuts and bruises the guards had gifted him. He carefully took his jacket and shirt off, and tried not to look at himself in the mirror. He thin in a generally unhealthy way, which didn't really bother him because everyone in the fringes was. he took a quick assessment of his wounds and opened up the med kit. First things first he sprayed each wound with bath'n'a'can. Antiseptic spray that burned more than any bath that he could ever remember taking.

Once the burning faded, he sealed each wound with skin tape. He rolled the applicator back and forth like a tiny vacuum cleaner. He'd done this more times than he could count and watching the artificial skin cover up the bloody mess of his actual body fascinated him every time. In less than a month it would flake off like real skin and in the case of minor wound he likely wouldn't even have a scar, Some of the large slashes would be nothing more than permanent brush strokes of forgotten pain. Lastly he dry swallowed his last two pain pills and then closed up his kit. he dropped his shirt back onto his body and slid into his jacket carefully so as not to aggravate the wounds underneath their bandages. Once he was dressed he exited the bathroom and went back to his table. Not long after Pops brought out the soda and pie, and unlocked the door on his way back into the kitchen.

By the time Daniel arrived the pie was a distant memory. He sat across from Foster and waved pop off as he came out of the kitchen. He looked Foster over in silence. "You look tired." He finally offered.

Foster nodded. "Better to be tired and alive, than dead and well rested." He replied.

Daniel nodded. "Where's the package." he asked. Foster wiggled his left leg which had both straps of his backpack wrapped around it. Daniel nodded again. "All right then, hand it over and you can go get some sleep." He held out his hand.

Foster shook his head slightly. "Did you know the building was the Shadow Church?" He asked. Daniel looked at the decor on the walls of the cafe, avoiding Foster's gaze. Foster felt the pain meds dulling his rage. "Daniel! The ONLY reason I made it out of there alive was because of lucky door timing!" He snapped.

Spoonerville: page 6

They had added Vivian to Mario Kart once the pizza was done cooking and she turned out to be way better than either of them, she also enjoyed pointing it out. By the time they reached Rainbow Road she was far and away ahead of both of them combined.

Rodney got knocked off the course by a chomp chomp for the third time “So, how do you know my grandmother?” He asked while he waited for the cloud turtle to fish him back onto the track.

Vivan finished the race and dropped her controller onto the table In front of the TV. “We work at the library together.” She answered while standing up to stretch.

An alarm sounded on Derek’s phone. He stood up as well and shut the alarm off. “Whelp, another successful day.” He said without even a hint of sarcasm as he went back out into the restaurant.

Rodney scoffed. “You had two customers.” He said grabbing his jacket and following Derek back into the main building.

Derek nodded and locked the front door. “In this town you can’t measure success by the amount of money that you make.” He clarified, shut off the pizza sign and flipped the open/closed sign over.

Rodney nodded with a dopey smile. “Is it me? Was friendship the secret to success all along?” he faked a bashful shrug.

Dereck laughed. “Yup, you never needed the balet slippers at all! The magic was in you the whole time!” He carried the joke.

Rodney’s phone pinged a few times. He checked it. “While I appreciate the boost to my self-confidence, I gotta jet.” He said.

Vivan came out of the back room. “Awe, don’t like us anymore?” She asked.

Rodney shook his head. “Not even close, my grandmother bought a cell phone, and learned not only to text but to use Facebook for the express purpose of making sure I come home by nine o’clock every night.” He explained as he dropped his phone back in his pocket. “So unless you plan on murdering me and using me for pizza toppings, I gotta go make sure she doesn’t have a heart attack.” He looked at the front door. “That statement was genuinely less scary before I realized you just locked the front door.” He said flatly.

Vivan stepped up behind Rodney. “Derek, how many times have I told you to stop telling your victims about your plans in advance?” She asked.

Derek shrugged. “So I’ll order more sausage, sue me!” He playfully snapped. He held up his keys. “Come on employee entrance is in the back of the kitchen.” He smiled putting Rodney at ease. Derek and Vivian led him through the kitchen. Her big black knee high boots echoed off the walls. “So obviously you’re welcome by any time. We’re open 9am to 9pm.” Derek explained.

Rodney nodded. “Considering the fact that you two are the first normal people I’ve met in this town I’ll prolly be around a lot.” He said with a smile as they exited out the back of the shop.

Vivian shook her head. “We’re less normal than you think.” She said as Derek locked the door behind him.

Rodney nodded. “Almost everyone is, but your store isn’t covered in Blood Night posters and you play a mean game of Mario Kart so I’ll take my chances.” He replied specifically to her.

They shared and awkward moment of silence before Derek playfully punched Vivian. “ No! Bad sister! My friend! Shoo! Shoo! Get your own!” He grabbed her and turned her away from Rodney and then turned to look over his shoulder. “Have a good night man, see you tomorrow.” He said with a smile.

Rodney nodded, turned and waved without looking back. 

Shades of Justic: Page 38

They finished cutting themselves a door and Gordon summoned his suit, activated his boots and kicked the section of wall in, letting light flood into the pitch black of the storage area.

They each turned the spot lights in their glasses on to see what they were looking at. Warren came to a large wall and put his hand on it. ‘Great another wall.” He grumbled.

Mark shook his head. “Not a wall.” They looked at him as he pointed up. The group followed his finger and realized there were standing at the feet of a mecha that wasn’t Blinding Light.

Warren took a step back. “How many of them are there?” He asked in surprise.

Mark shrugged. “Don’t know, never asked.” He admitted.

Kelly squinted at the head of the mecha in front of them. “Any idea what this one is called?” She asked.

Dante stepped away from the feet of the unknown mecha. “Look as cool as this is, we’ve got one friend in critical condition and one in total shutdown, let’s take care of them and take the underground tour later.” He commanded.

The others followed his lead. When they were passing the fourth mecha Gordon finally spoke up. “How are we supposed to find Technarious’ spare parts?” He asked.

Mark put his glasses on. “Quicksilver search and display the location of any Fabristeel. He commanded. “Woah.” He said in surprise.

The others looked at him. “Woah, what?” Gordon asked.

Mark pointed the lights on his glasses toward a far wall in the distance. “There is  a LOT of fabristeel about a hundred yards in that direction.

They carefully moved as a group with Mark in the lead. He led them to another wall they had to cut through. Once Kelly and Warren had cut through the wall, Gordon kicked it down to reveal a room filled with easily a dozen different bodies for Technarious. From bodies with jet packs, heavily armored bodies, bodies that had propeller feet for transport under water there were back up bodies for every situation.

They spread out to find the most basic one. Kelly found one that was nearly identical. “Guy’s” She called out. “Let’s take this one.” She said.

The others joined her and inspected the clasps holding the body to the wall. 

Bood and Profit: Page 61

Kepi spent four days learning how to and helping to make books for the Starseeds. Within that four day period the seriousness of the situation became clear when the inky blackness of the collective unconsciousness had begun to grow closer to the tree ship. There was no way of knowing what they would lose when they started to push back the darkness so if a Starseed wasn’t helping grow the tree ship they were working obsessively building or filling books.

The darkness entered the grove of the tree ship. It wasn’t hard to destroy it, all a Starseed needed to do was touch it. And the inky blackness just, faded away along with whatever knowledge that part of the cloud contained.

Once the first part of the cloud had to be dissolved the Starseeds were instantly aware that something had been lost, but none of them could tell what it was. After that they became practically obsessed with the books.

Her phone buzzed on the fourth day. She was being summoned back to the capitol. The message didn’t say for what, it was a basic text that had gone out to each representative. She finished sealing the covers of the six books she had been working on and stood up to stretch. A Starseed took her place almost instantly.

She had expected a summons but not this soon. She expected it to be some time wasting check in and considering the fact that she had not seen any updates from her staff concerning the ship count from her district she expected it to be bureaucratic nonsense.

She updated Eamon and took her cruiser back to the capital.

On the outskirts of the city she received a call from skyline command. She opened the channel and was greeted by a young air traffic controller that looked very tired. “Good afternoon representative.”

Kepi nodded. “Is there something wrong?” She asked.

The air traffic controller shook his head. “Wrong isn’t the correct word. We’ve got about twenty four thousand zone 2 contacts coming into the city over the next three days and that’s on top of the ten thousand that we’ve have arrive in the last two. So I apologize but I have to ask you to maintain the course and speed I just sent your computer until your spot in the landing pattern comes up.” He explained.

She looked at the computer and realized there were going to have her basically fly in a circle. “Any idea of an estimated time table for landing?” She asked.

The air traffic controller shrugged. “When I know, you’ll know.” He offered.

The channel went blank and kepi encoded the course and speed into the navigation system.

Lidarion: Page 33

The first and most important thing to understand is that even for Gods, creating a world is no easy task. Existence is an internetworked set of complex systems that must constantly be checked and balanced. Creation is not just an act of will, it is a mental and emotional endurance trial.

The second most important thing is that to create something like life on a planet is not a short term act. The process undertaken by the beings that reached out and touched this planet did not do so under the impression that they would set into motion a series of events that would outlast them.

It is not known if the guiding hands that shaped life on this planet fully understood the complexity of the undertaking, or if the creation of conscious life was part of their plan from the very beginning. What is known is what the Titans recorded of their one and only meeting with their creators.

The titans were designed to be the stewards and overseers of the planet. They were to live on and take care of their home all the ages that it would exist. Time was not something the titans had any interest in quantifying but their creators bred into them an understanding of its passage. It was not until the creators disappeared that the Titans felt they had anything worthy of recording or remembering. The first record created by the Titans is a simple rudimentary comment.

Today, for the first time, we are truly alone.

Once this observation had been made. The titans saw a need to protect and oversee history in the same way they had safeguarded the planet. Even still, it is not known exactly how much time passed between the disappearance of the creators and the evolution of the elven race.

What is known down to the minute is the date the elves killed the first titan.

The Elven record of the titan war is a never ending nightmare of blood and fire. The titan record is nothing more than a list of names and their date of death. There are several recordings that detail how the war ended. The elder elves claim that the death of the king’s son turned his stomach and heart away from the desire for war. The wild elves records claim that their exodus from their ancient homeland reduced the elven numbers so low that they could not sustain the fight against the titans.

What is known is that ultimately the war caused the Titans to lose the desire to pursue the very purpose they were created to fulfill. Even the titans records post war were fewer and farer between.

As the Titans recorded less, the Elves recorded more, and one of the things they took note of was the constantly decreasing numbers of titans wandering the planet.

It was in these final years of the titans that the paragons were created. So like their creators before them, they created life.

It was in the pursuit of this final goal that the world entered its second age.

Melody and Harmony: Page 7

Aaron saw his best friend in the world, Vince sit down next to his girlfriend.  And turn the filter on his headphones so they could talk. “And where have you been?” He asked Vince.

Vince pointed at his girlfriend. “Calliope had to finish out your transition set.” He said.

Calliope blew Aaron an exaggerated kiss. “You’re an artist!” She complimented. “Unlike the guy who took over.” She glared at the DJ currently working as the dance floor continued to lose people.

Aaron turned his headphones for a second to hear what the DJ was playing, grimaced and turned his music filter back on. Vince pulled a folded up paper out of his pocket and tossed it over to Aaron. “Thought you’d want to see that.” he said.

Aaron picked up the flyer and unfolded it. It was a flier for a music festival headlined by DJ Sorcha. There were a ton of other names on the flier but the biggest shock was that it wasn’t just a Goth festival, it was a pirate metal, industrial goth, and new wave retro festival. DJ Sorcha, Setting Sail, and Neon Halo. He looked up from the flier. “What are these numbers?” He asked Vince.

Vince smiled. “Co-ordinates. That’s where the party is.” Vince explained.

Aaron glanced back at the flier. “Why not just tell people which club this is happening at?” He asked.

Vince laughed. “Because it’s not happening in a club, hell, it’s not happening in the city.” He said with a smile.

Aaron looked up from the flier in surprise. “You’re kidding.” He said.

Calliope nodded. “I looked them up myself. It’s a patch of desert about twenty five miles outside the city.” She said clapping her hands. “You know what that means.” She was bouncing. “Road Trip!” she practically squealed.

Aaron looked back down at the flier. “I can’t go.” He said handing the flier back to Vince.

Vince was shocked. “We have to go!” He said.

Aaron nodded. “I’d love to go but I just got a job here at the club. I don’t want to lose my spot.” He admitted.

Vince’s face lit up. ‘They picked you up!” He almost shouted. Aaron nodded. Vince waved a waitress over. “Drinks on me! My buddy just became a paid DJ. We’re getting screwed up tonight!” The waitress nodded and wandered back to the bar.

The rest of the evening was a blur of music, light, and the fuzzy company of his closest friends.

Spoonerville: Page 5

By the time the Pizza was ready Derek and Rodney were deep into a Grand Prix on Mario Kart. They paused long enough to get the pizza out of the oven and refill sodas but then it was back to the intense rivalry that had become very important in the last twenty minutes.

Well into their eleventh race the counter bell rang. “Derek quit playing your stupid games! I’m hungry!” A woman’s voice forced its way into the back room.

Derek paused the game and got out of his ancient bean bag chair. Rodney got up as well and followed him out. “About time lazy. How do you afford this place? I never see anyone in here other than me.” She asked as Derek made his way into the back. “Is this a mob front?” She asked.

Derek laughed as he worked the dough for her pizza. Rodney looked up from the soda he had just finished. He and the girl noticed each other for the first time. She pointed at him. “I’m your only friend and amazon doesn’t sell people so who the hell is this?” She asked Derek.

Normally Rodney wouldn’t have been able to utter a word, girls were not his strong suit. The counselor he had been seeing at his previous school said he was painfully shy. Rodney felt more like he was painfully a dumbass. So he was as surprised as anyone when he stuck his hand out and introduced himself. “Rodney, actual human resident of Spoonerville.” He said with a dopey smile.

She took his hand and tried not to laugh. “Vivian Brooks.” She said with a smile. “And just because you live here doesn’t mean he didn’t order you out of a Russian catalog.” She pulled a straw out of its paper wrapper. “You know you’re free to leave at any time right? You’re in America now.” She said as she threw the crumpled up straw wrapper into the kitchen. “He can’t keep you here against your will!” She yelled so Derek could hear her as he worked.

Rodney shook his head. “I don’t think Russian mail order does husbands.” He said laughing. He walked around the counter and filled his cup. “You want?” he asked.

She shook her head and pulled a flask out of her tiny purse. “So Rodney, actual human resident.” She took a drink. “What brings you to Spoonerville?” She raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged. “You’d think with all the free time I’ve had the last week, I would have come up with a better story than the real one.” He said with a smile.

She shook her head. “Nah, stick with the truth, even if it sucks.” She replied.

He shrugged again. “Parent’s died in a car crash and I got shipped here to live with my grandmother.” He admitted quickly.

She nodded. “So you’re old lady Edgar’s grandson.” She said.

He nodded. There was silence for a moment. Vivian stuffed her flask back into her purse. “Bummer about your parents.” She said finally. Rodney nodded and fidgeted with his cup.

Derek stuck his head out of the kitchen. “Jalapeno’s or no?” he asked.

She looked at Rodney. “Are we interested in hot and spicy this evening?” She asked bluntly.

Rodney’s chin dropped an inch and no sound came out of his mouth.

Derek threw a towel at Vivian. “Leave him alone Viv, thanks to him I’m one more customer closer to my millionth customer celebration!” He said ducking back into the kitchen.

She caught and folded the towel nicely. “Yeah, only nine hundred thousand nine hundred and ninety eight more to go!” She yelled back.

Shades of Justice: Page 37

Mark walked over to an empty section of the command center wall. He reached out and pressed his hand against the wall and waited for a second. Nothing happened. “That’s what I was afraid of.” He grumbled. “Computer, voice recognition Quicksilver, access storage facility.” He asked the command center computer.

The others waited with baited breath. “The storage facility mainframe is not responding.” The machine replied.

Gordon threw his hands up. “Of course it’s not. How long until power is restored to the storage facility?” He asked.

“The storage facility power level status is unknown, the mainframe is not responding.” The computer replied.

Warren ran his hands through is hair in frustration. “Ok so now what?” He asked.

Mark shrugged. “We break through the wall.” He offered.

Gordon pointed at the wall section. “Any idea what we’re going to need to break through that?” he asked.

Kelly threw her glasses on. “Blacklight Sabers!” She held out her hands as she spoke the command and the hilts to her swords materialized. She turned one on and sunk the blade in the wall. It went slowly but she was able to bury the blade in the wall. She slowly began to pull the blade upwards beginning the tedious process of cutting a door for the team to get through. She tossed her second sword to Warren and he started on the other side of the door.

Blood and Profit: Page 60

The game console they found was in much better shape than the one Mew remembered Toll constantly playing with, which made sense considering this device had likely been in storage for generations.

They took the console back into the main lab and treated it like a legendary piece of history, which it very likely was. They made sure it was still fully functional, replaced some parts that were failing due to age and turned it on.

The console booted perfectly. The professor turned it back off and plugged the ring controller into the game console. He turned the console on again and after the introductory screen a menu came up that referenced the ring controller. Ling, Cory, and the professor all shouted in excitement. The professor accessed the button for the ring console and they were dismayed to see a never ending list of options come up. Each entry was nothing more than a string of numbers.

The professor sat down hard in his chair. “Solve one problem, and a whole butt load more present.” He sighed as Cory pressed the button to go back to the top of the screen. The screen showed a total of two hundred and forty five files they had discovered.

Mew was totally lost. “What do those numbers mean?” She asked.

Ling shrugged. “That’s the problem. We don’t know.” She admitted as cory opened the first file and found more files that seemed to be named with random strings of numbers and letters. “And it’s going to take us a decent amount of time to decipher them.” She said.

The thin guard and the fat guard came through the lab doors with the pizza that the professor had ordered. “Here’s your lunch. From now on you get delivery from actual pizza delivery, this crap is below our pay grade.” The thin one dropped the pizza on an only partially filled lab table, turned and walked out as the fat one followed him.

Lidarion: Page 32

Dean was the first to speak. “All right squints, do your thing.” He said a huge smile on his face.

Squints pointed at the scrolls. “Oh sure, only two problems, even if I could unroll scrolls the size of a house, I can’t read Titan!” He said in shock.

“I can.” Haruff offered.

Trent gestured to Haruff. “There we go! I knew you were going to be good for somethi – You’re Blind!” He finally caught on.

Haruff’s mouth dropped open in mock shock. “Since when?” He asked sarcastically.

Trent stuck his tongue out. “Very funny.” He spat.

Dean had been inspecting the locks on the lowest scroll. “Can we even open these? They look incredibly old.” He said.

Squints looked at Obla’reth. “So can we even open the scrolls and if so do you know anyone that can legitimately read Titan?” He asked.

Obla’reth shook his head with a smile. “No we cannot, and no I do not. No one had read or spoken Titian for more than ten lifetimes.”

Brooke sighed heavily. “So we came all this way for nothing.” She said.

Obla’reth walked over to an ancient wooden pedestal that had a wooden cover closed over the top of it that was split down the middle. He flipped the wooden cover open to reveal a large book. “I wouldn’t say nothing, before the locks rusted and the language of the Titians had faded from memory, one of the librarians translated the scrolls into Mer.” He explained.

Squints scurried over to the podium. “You can read the language of the Merfolk?” He asked with a huge smile on his face. The weirdness of the book being written in Mer struck him. “Why Mer?” he asked.

Obla’reth nodded. “Yes I can speak and read Mer. I do not know exactly why the book is written in Mer. The Rumors passed from librarian to librarian say that the underwater kingdoms were the last place the Titans were welcome before their race passed beyond the veil. Strangely enough, I have yet to find anything old enough to corroborate that.” He opened the book. “Now what are you looking for?” He asked.

Trent stepped up to the podium. “Where each of the Paragon’s are located, how to contact them, and the best way to earn their favors.” He said with all seriousness.

Obla’reth blinked. “Oh, is that all?” He asked as he turned back to the book on the pedestal and turned to the first page. “The Scrolls of the paragon’s, a comprehensive translation in five parts.” He turned to the second page.

Melody and Harmony: Page 6

Aaron’s set at the Shadow Church was over, and discounting the guards chasing out a lone pirate infiltrator it had been a good set. The dance floor stayed full, the color patterns and the dancer’s enthusiasm seem to be generally upbeat and he had received no complaints.

 He had a three song transition set to give him and the replacement DJ time to trade off. He thumbed a control on his glove and the lights in the back of his white trench coat shut off. The cords that plugged him into the club’s sound system unhooked and recoiled back into his jacket. The next DJ stepped and started to get himself plugged in and set up.

Aaron stepped off the stage and was met by the booker for the club. The booker gestured to his earphones and Aaron turned the dial on his to filter out the club music. “Good set.” The booker complimented. “We’ve got an opening on Thursday nights, you want it?” He asked. Aaron nodded excitedly. The synthesizer mask he was wearing covered the huge smile on his face. The booker nodded and handed him a business card. “I’ll give you a call on Monday and we’ll get the specifics worked out.” He said before he walked away to handed another crisis.

Aaron was in a Daze. He had covered the ninety minute set as a favor to a friend who was too sick to get out of bed and had gotten a job out of it. Not that one set a week was much of a job but it was one set a week at the Shadow Church which was easily the fanciest club in the district.

He was deep in his thoughts and almost walked by a table full of his friends, he would have walked by them but Freya snagged his wrist. He stopped and looked down at her brilliant smile. “Where you off to in such a daze?” She asked.

He saw that her headphones where filtering the club music out as well and he pulled up a seat next to her. “I just got a job.” He explained, still in a daze.

Frey hugged him in excitement. “That’s great!” She let go of him. “I’m not surprised though that set was incredible. We were on the floor for almost an hour.” She confirmed.

Aaron looked around the table and noticed several empty chairs. “I’ve been off stage for almost fifteen minutes, you’d think everyone would want to come congratulate me.” He commented sarcastically.

As if he himself summoned them the rest of the gang left the dance floor and took their seats. Freya smiled at him. “Look at that, Power you didn’t even know you had.” She laughed at his shock.

Spoonerville: Page 4

Rodney had been living in Spoonerville for exactly seven days. And in the week that he had been there he had learned a lot. He had learned that he could leisurely walk from one side of town to the other in exactly thirty two minutes. Less if he caught both stop lights on green. He had learned more that the town had taken the popularity of the Blood Night series to heart and the stores that were still open were geared towards, hunting, fishing, and Blood Night. He had never paid attention to Blood Night before he moved in with his Grandmother and now that he was here everywhere he looked was Black and Red, fur and fangs, Spoons and Forks.

The local Library had a reading group where they discussed each chapter of each book and when they finished all three books they started over again often with the same people in the reading groups. There was a tiny local theater that had done so many different stage adaptations of all three Blood Night Books that their wall of past shows was nothing but Blood Night performances. Every shop, every restaurant, every gas station had signs declaring their allegiance. Team Alphonse or Team Spencer. He had even seen that in the previous years of the high school the fictional characters had been voted prom king and prom queen.

He Hated Spoonerville with a passion and he had only been there for seven days. He had tried to get a job but no one in spoonerville was hiring, he didn’t have a car of his own so traveling to the nearest town wasn’t an option and his Grandmother didn’t have cable, even worse she didn’t have internet, so he had resorted to spending his time wandering through town hoping against hope to find someplace that didn’t suck.

That place turned out to be Joe’s Pizza. He had stopped there on his second day in town in the middle of his third timed walk across town. He gave up on beating his record of twenty nine minutes and walked across the empty street to check the place out. It instantly became his favorite place when he got close enough to the front door to see the index card taped to the door that said [Free Wifi with the purchase of…anything really, PSW: #BN5UKS].

The place was deserted but he had pretty much decided that unless the owner was a creepy pervert that it had become his new favorite place. There was a colorful sign taped to a bell that said [I can’t hear you over the N64. Ring Bell Loudly] So he did, twice.

The door behind the counter opened up and an unshaven guy in his mid to late twenties stuck his head out. “Oven’s not even on man, you in a rush?” he asked.

Rodney shook his head. “If I was then I wouldn’t be in Spoonerville.” He answered.

The guy gave a wide grin and nodded. “Right on! My name’s Derek I’ll be right out dude.” He stuck his head back in and Rodney could hear him un pause the video game and finish his level. Rodney grabbed the nearest stool and sat at the bar. Closest to the cash register. He pulled out his phone and set himself up on the wifi, able to check on the life he had left behind when he came to Spoonerville. His Facebook profile was a never ending stream of condolences and well wishes on his new life in this dirt hole, middle of nowhere village of forgotten tween romance. He closed Facebook and opened up Reddit to see what his friends were saying about the new rule set for star pilots, a board game he was sure no one in this town had ever heard of. The timing of his move had forced him to miss the most recent regional qualifier and he was pretty sure that he was no longer going to be a part of the professional scene considering the nearest regional tournament had already happened and was in a town almost four hours away.

He had gotten so lost in reading about his game that he completely Missed Derek coming out and firing up the pizza oven. “Hey buddy, what can I get you?” He asked.

Rodney pulled his mind out of his phone. “I feel like it’s a dick move to order slices when you’d have to make an entire pizza to do it.” He said.

Derek shook his head. “Either I’ll eat it over the next few days or someone else comes in and orders stuff anyway, don’t hold back on my account.” He assured him.

Rodney nodded. “Cool, I’ll take two slices of pepperoni, and an orange soda if you got it.” He said.

Derek nodded around the corner to the back wall of the shop. “Sodas are back there, help yourself. Two slices of pepperoni coming up!” He went back into the kitchen as Rodney filled his cup.

Shades of Justice: Page 36

Mark teleported into the command center. He had been spending the last few months in Hawaii surfing on every wave he could catch. So when he appeared in board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt the others were surprised. “What’s up kids?” He asked taking off his silver sunglasses.

Gordon took in the garish outfit quickly “Aloha I guess, sorry to call you back so soon but were in a bit of a situation.” He started.

Mark nodded. “Par for the course wouldn’t you say?” He replied with a smile.

Gordon nodded. “The good news is, we got Technarious back, the bad news is, Sonya almost died to make it happen and Technarious isn’t functional and we don’t know if he can be fixed, what we would fix, or how to fix it if we knew.” He explained walking over to the platform where Technarious was laid out.

Mark looked him over. “First of all, congratulations on getting Technarious back, is Sonya going to be ok?” He asked.

“She’s already starting to recover thanks to the command centers medical systems and Spark.” Kelly added.

Mark turned around to reply to her. “Who or what is Spark?” He asked.

Lumarion’s wall light up. “I’m Spark. These guys thought there were going to rescue Lumarion and found me instead.” He explained.

Mark nodded. “So you found a different Shimmeron, you have Technarious back, and the command center is still standing, you guys are doing all right.” He smiled and put his glasses on. “Computer, give me a full body structural scan of Technarious compare it to his last fully functional scan on file.” The others stood in silence and Mark looked over the information that was coming through his glasses. He snapped his fingers. “Computer, display discrepancies on the center holoprojector.” As soon as he finished the command he took his glasses off and two holographic three dimensional representations of Technarious appeared in the center of the room.

The left one was dimmer than the right one and there were several area’s that were lit with red light instead of green. Gordon reached out and pointed at one of the red sections. “I’m assuming the red sections are the area’s that are damaged and in need of repair or replacement?” He asked.

Mark nodded. “Exactly, now all we have to do is break into the storage facility underneath the command center.

Warren sighed. “Of course, why didn’t we think of that?” He said sarcastically.

Mark shrugged his shoulders. “I know you guys are new, but where did you think Blinding Light went when you weren’t fighting giant monsters?” He asked.

Warren held up a finger, realized it was a decent question and then shrugged. “Fair point.” He admitted.

Blood and Profit: Page 59

The room Ling led Mew into was a state of the art computer lab. She watched as the male assistant sat at the nearest interface and pulled up a search program.

Mew leaned over to whisper to ling. “So what’s his name.” She asked.

“That’s Cory.” Ling replied.

Cory filled out the search parameters that they knew. He set the system to its task and a large [SEARCHING] icon popped up and faded in and out.

“And why is he searching for the game console?” Mew asked.

Ling nodded. “To see if we have one.” She explained.

Mew was lost. “To see if you have one where? Why?” She asked.

Ling gestured to the rest of the building. “This ware house is the technology library and machine repository. We’re hoping that we have one waiting for us in one of the storage compartments here.” She explained.

Mew nodded. “Ok but what’s so important about the game console? Aren’t we supposed to activate the ring?” She asked.

Ling nodded. “The ring console is based on three hundred year old technology. On a consumer level we moved past it long, long ago. When your friends erased the data on the ring and console we were left with a three hundred year old remote control that has no known visual interface and runs on code that no known machine can interpret. We’re down to digging through the oldest machines we have in the library to see if any of them are able to show us why this ring console isn’t turning on.” She said.

Cory stood up “G – G- G –Got it!” A paper with the box code and game system information printed out.

Ling grabbed it and glanced it over. “Toll definitely had a passion for old rare electronics. This thing wasn’t made here, it was brought all the way from earth.” She said as they left the computer lab and headed for the machine repository.

The doctor saw them come out into the hall. “Did you find anything?” He asked, jumping off the chair and running to catch up with them. Ling handed over the paper. “Vintage to the point of being nearly useless. I highly doubt your friends were into video games that old.” He said looking at the rest of the information. “Row nineteen, Section F, Box eight. You’ll need a ladder” He said handing the paper back to Ling as they entered the repository proper. 

The others moved with purpose, the storage facility was nothing new to them, but Mew was stunned instantly by the sheer size of the area and the never ending rows of stored materials that went all the way to the roof of the building. “How?” She uttered mostly to herself.

Ling came back her direction with a large ladder. “Decades of dedication, and organization, Come on.” She headed down the hall toward the nineteenth row.

Lidarion: Page 31

It was not an easy three days of travel. The journey itself was easy enough, every fifty to a hundred feet they marked their path so they could find their way back to the port. Trent had been short tempered from the get go and by the end of the first day his attitude and the ever present fog had soured the group. They traveled the second day mostly in silence, there were bits of whispered conversations but nothing that lasted longer than a few sentences. By the end of day three they had all retreated into their own thoughts and followed Haruff in total silence.

Twenty minutes into the fourth day they found the library. It was large enough that the fog obscured its total height but what they could see was stunningly beautiful. A mixture of wood and stone that appeared to have escaped the wear and tear of time. As they approached the heavy wooden main doors they were able to see representations of every language they knew and several that even Squints had never seen. Haruff pulled the door open and they ventured inside.

The interior was even more impressive than the exterior. Their vision no longer limited by the Fog, everyone but Haruff was able to take in the architecture, the paintings on the walls, the tile work on the floor that appeared at first glance to be an ancient map of the world. The book stacks started almost immediately and rose high into the building. They could see ladders hanging off the shelves. A fair skinned elf with ice blue hair came around the corner to greet them. He wore a plain white robe that had one large pocket in the front that was filled with a book. The Ice haired elf smiled at them and clapped his hands in excitement. “Oh my yes! This is a wonderful day, it had been so long since we’ve had any visitors.” He ushered them further into the building as he walked by them to close the doors. “Come in, come in, come in. Keep that nasty fog outside where it belongs.” He turned back to face the group. “Before we begin I invite you to wash all that negativity and anger off here, I promise you’ll feel better once you have been cleansed.” He gestured to a basin of water and waited for each of them to clean their hands and faces. As they did they discovered that the ice haired elf wasn’t lying. The sour silent negativity was rinsed away as their hands and face dried. The ice haired elf nodded again. “Good, Good, now welcome to the City of Scrolls. A misleading name if ever there was one, because it’s a library, but as far I am aware it is the largest library on the planet which means whatever you came here to find, I can almost guarantee that it is here to be found.” He shuffled back to the front of the group. “Now then, how may I be of assistance?” He asked with a huge smile on his face.

Squints stepped forward with the book he had brought from Lidarion. “We’re ah, well. We’re looking for the five scrolls that detail the sigils of the paragons. He said. Do you know where they are?” he asked.

The ice haired elf nodded in excitement. “The five scrolls are easily one of our most treasured manuscripts here. Come! I will show you.” He said spinning around.

The group scurried behind him to keep up. “What’s your name?” Brooke asked. As they weaved through the stacks.

The ice haired elf laughed. “You may call me Obla’reth.” He replied.

After a few more moments of scurrying through the library they came to positively primal wooden doors, marked with some sort of ancient language. Squints was beside himself with curiosity. “Obla’reth what language is that? I saw it on the front door as well.” He asked.

Obla’reth smiled nodded. “Yes you did, it’s the language of the titans, the first sentient race we have evidence of on this planet.” He explained.

Squints shook his head. “I thought the Titans were nothing more than a myth, bed time stories for children.” He replied.

Obla’reth shook his head. “An unfortunate side effect of time, and a general disinterest in the preservation of history. Luckily it is a side effect those who dedicate themselves to the preservation of this city are not burdened by.” He said pushing the doors open to reveal five gigantic scrolls. Each was easily five feet tall and twenty feet wide. They were secured to the wall of the room they were stored in by giant leather straps. It was clear that the room they were stored in had been built specifically to house them as the ceiling of the room was no more than two or three feet above the fifth scroll on the wall. “Ladies and gentlemen, the scrolls of the paragons.” Obla’reth gestured to the wall as the others stood in stunned awe.

Melody and Harmony: Page 5

The other side of the bridge was friendly territory, it was home. Once he touched down he coasted to a stop and kicked his board up. It was long past sun down and the second shift workers were well into their evening’s entertainment. Foster was still miles from Safe Port, the bar where he was to deliver his package but on this side of the bridge he was already among family.

He dropped his board to the street and made his way into the district, families had come out of their homes and every street he passed down there was another feast, another pick up band filling the alleys with ancient music that bound the souls of all who danced to the past, stronger than any blood ever could. This was the music that made their blood flow, He set his audio filter so he could hear the music as he rolled through the streets. He smiled and acknowledged those who raised their glasses to him as he passed. Among friends, he found himself in no hurry.

Safe Port was open but you’d never know it from the outside. Foster kicked his board up and it magnetized to his leg as he thumbed the button to split the board in half at his knee. He walked around the corner of the building and stepped into what was both the back alley of the bar and also the front entrance. The back alley was filled with a small army of questionable characters. Two tired looking men in torn gray plants and faded purple tunics were sitting on boxes, one of them was dealing hands from a sun worn deck of cards. Leaning on the alley wall opposite them was another fellow in gray and purple with a plain black eye patch over his right eye, his left eye was closed and he was strumming out a lazy tune on an electric guitar. At the far end of the alley, Daniel was perched against the wall, His electric purple cavalier hat angled low to cover his face, and the neon purple feather pinned to the right side pulsed through patterns of purple and black. The smoke from Daniel’s Cigarette curled up slowly around the brim. He wore a galleon coat that had been stitched with fiber optic thread, purple lines of electricity crawled the crisscrossing patterns they had been stitched into from ankle to shoulder.

Foster made his way down the alley, bobbing and weaving around the guardians of the club. Daniel did not look up when he spoke. “How did it go?” He asked, letting more smoke slowly dance its way into the sky.

Foster shrugged. “Oh you know, same shit, different day.” He tried to play it off as he pulled the package out of his jacket and handed it over to Daniel.

Daniel checked the contents of the package and saw the bloody hole in Fosters jacket. “That good huh?” He nodded to the wound as he pocketed the package in one of his own inner pockets.

Foster nodded. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, but unless you need anything else, I’m going to head home.” He said turning toward the opening of the alley just in time to see the woman from the club and a ten guard’s roll up behind her. He cursed under his breath as she locked eyes with him.

Daniel didn’t move off the wall. “Something we can help you with, Veronica?” There was disdain in her name.

She pointed a black opal fingernail at Foster. “He broke the rules, my master demands retribution.” She spat.

Daniel tossed the butt of his cigarette and lit another, the glow of his lighter revealing the left half of his face. “If he so desires then let him come and take it.” The light died and smoke crawled out of the darkness.

Veronica clenched her fists and postured in fury toward the alley but did not enter it. “I HAVE KILLED MEN FOR LESSER INSULTS!” She growled.

Daniel shook his head calmly. “I think you see insult where none exists.” He replied with an even tone.

For a second everyone seemed to freeze. Daniel calmly tossed his half smoked cigarette across the alley way and lifted his head for the first time. The lamp light from above revealing a deep scar on the right side of his face. Veronica took a half step back in surprise. “You!” Her men got nervous. “They said you were dead!” She uttered in disbelief.

Daniel reached in the darkness of his jacket and pulled a mini gun out from under the long body of his jacket. It was hanging from a strap around his shoulder the head of the six barrel rotator pointed at Veronica and her men. The other men in the alley way all stood and revealed the guns and knives they were carrying as well.

Veronica held her hands up in surrender. “It doesn’t have to go down like this.” She said

Daniel squinted. “We are men of action, lies do not become us.” The mini Gun roared to life and Veronica and her guards shot into the air bouncing off the walls and launched themselves at the men in the alleyway.

Foster pulled his sword out of his jacket but was stopped from entering the fray by Daniel. He handed him the package. “Go home kid, keep this safe, I’ll drop by in the morning to pick it up.” He turned his attention to the fight and caught a guard lunging at him with a quick burst of fire that dropped him to the ground.

Foster was thumbing the control for his board when Daniel whistled and a fire escape ladder dropped down. He nodded to the ladder. Foster nodded back and made his way up and away from the fight. 

Spoonerville: Page 3

In the books and the movies Quora beach was a rocky, cold mess of unfriendly land that looked nothing at all like the coast lines that had made California famous. In reality, Quora beach was the catcher’s mitt for all the rage the ocean could throw at it. Denielle pulled into the parking area which consisted of two rows of parking. A few years earlier a raging winter storm moved the beach head back a hundred feet, covering half the original parking lot with beach sand and gravel. The beach was a combination of stones, rocks, boulders, and entire ancient dead trees.

She parked the car and felt safe seeing that there were a half dozen other cars in the lot. She passed the bathrooms to walk down the trail that led her through a heavily cleared part of the forest to an open area where beach access was significantly safer than the parking area. The tide was on its way out and while she couldn’t see much in the way of waves on the water she could hear them crashing in the distance.

The books had made the cloud cover of the pacific northwest famous and she had expected clouds, what she had not been prepared for was the thick layer of formless gray that blanketed the sky without detail. Beneath the blanket of nothingness there were a few clouds here or there but with less than five minutes on the beach she fully understood why seasonal depression was a part of life for many who live in Washington.

She sloughed off the incoming blah’s and pulled her cell phone out to take pictures of the giant tower like island off to her left. It stood out of the ocean like a super villain’s lair and its creepy beauty mesmerized her. She got lost in playing with filters and angles until somewhere around her fifteenth photo the laughter of children playing on the beach somewhere behind her brought her attention back. She pocketed her phone and turned to walk further down the beach but was shocked to find herself alone.

The beach was mostly small rocks and stones so there were no footprints to hint at their location but the laughter had also gone silent.

She glanced up at down the beach and the tree line and saw no one else within eye sight. Then for the first time she noticed that for as far down the tree line that she could see every mostly ocean exposed tree had long since died and been stripped bare of all life. The forest was buffered by a barrier wall of arboreal bones. The darkness that consumed the forest not much further beyond the barrier wall was probably perfectly natural but she could no longer ignore the feelings  of dread encroaching into her conscious mind. She turned back south toward the parking lot and looked along the tree line for the sign marking the path that would lead her back to her car.

She felt the ocean air cutting at her skin like a razor and hunched her shoulders against the sea spray that had been carried by the shifting wind. Somewhere behind her there was more laughter, she ignored the instinct to flee and turned to end the game these children were playing with her.

They weren’t children.

The ocean was capable of tossing ancient trees and giant boulders on a regular basis, so by the time the group of hikers returned to their car early the next morning, there was less than nothing left of the bloody hollowed out mess that used to be Denielle.

Shades of Justice: Page 35

Sonya was unconscious the medical platform had her incased in a field that was monitoring her condition. Her Heart beat was slow but steady. Dante had pulled a chair over to the platform and was sitting vigil over Sonya. Gordon had summoned up another platform and they had laid Technarious’ lifeless body on it.

Gordon, Kelly, and Warren were inspecting the damage. Shined a light into the hole in Technarious’ abdomen. Kelly shook her head. “We don’t even know if we did enough damage to him to shut him down, or if Sonya was successful in destroying his internal power supply.” She griped.

The command station computer pinged. “Technarious’ power supply has sustained enough damage to halt his functionality.” The computer pinged again.

Gordon snapped his fingers and worked through the half an idea forming in his mind. “Computer, is there, um, uh, extra parts! For Technarious?” He asked.

The computer pinged. “Technarious is a mechanically based artificial life form, he is not unique, and replacement parts do exist.” The computer pinged.

Gordon rolled his eyes and growled in frustration. “Are there parts in this command center?” he asked.

The computer pinged. “Unkown.” The computer pinged.

“Oh come on!” Kelly snapped. “You can scan the entire planet for Lumarion, but you can’t scan this room for Technarious’ spare parts?” She yelled.

The computer pinged. “Technarious’ is made up of over one million individual pieces. A full search of this command center for all one point two million parts will take four days.” The computer pinged.

Warren clenched his fists. “We don’t even know which parts to tell the computer to search for.” He pointed out.

Kelly shrugged. “Computer, which parts of Technarious have failed?” she asked.

The computer pinged. “Technarious is not powered and completely non-functional. There is no way to discern which parts have failed without disassembling him.” The computer pinged.

Dante stood up. “Well then, unless one of you got your P.H.D in sentient robot engineering in the last two week, there’s only one person I know of who might be able to help us.” He said.

Warren shook his head. “There’s absolutely no guarantee that Mark will know anything about how to fix Technarious.

Dante nodded. “You got a better idea?” he asked. The others were stone silent. Dante nodded again and put his shades on. “That’s what I thought.” He finalized.