Aurora laid back on the lawn chair, taking in the sun and surf of the isolated hotel retreat. She thought she was somewhere in Rio De Janeiro, though she didn't remember the inhabitants being purple and hairy the last time she'd traveled to an Earth type realm. Other than the odd population, most everything else was the same, the sun, the food, the bikinis; most was normal. Other than the attack of the eighty-foot mechanical spiders, there wasn't much to complain about.

     The first "spider" had attacked two weeks ago, almost crushing her under a massive metal foot at it advanced on the forty-story hotel. Afterwards she pondered its intent. Obviously not after her, the monster may have had another target in mind; either way she and Estor has saved the day and been richly rewarded.

     She did note that the next day their entertainment paraphernalia was located a good mile further down the beach. She didn't mind the reactions much, finding that the destruction she'd caused the last time must have warranted some precautionary tactics.

     Another spider had wandered up on the beach about a week ago. Again she had repelled the attack. Again her accommodations were relocated even further down the beach. Oh the cabana boys still took very good care of her and Estor, bringing them drinks, food, and what not. So far there hadn't been any more movement in the ocean, so the chaotic mutant was taking in the rays. Estor had wandered off. She'd suspected that it was off the planet. Though he no long had the godlike power as was his birthright, she knew there were many small ends that needed tying up. She also had the same types of ends, but preferred to do it via mail. Brimstone was handling most things in Rydin, keeping her abreast of the goings-on in that realm. In Del Mar it was a more delicate matter. Tristan had already rampaged, taking over sizeable chunks of real estate and armed creatures, but in his quest for power he'd managed to solidify the planet, and from what she'd heard, he wasn't half- bad at it either. Not her number one choice for the job, but for now, she would leave that problem be.

     A shadow draped over her closed eyes. At first she thought it was Estor, though something didn't feel quite right; like the vibe was out of alignment. He was still experimenting, getting a feel for what it takes to be a mutant, including a heightened state of many senses. It was only when he spoke that she confirmed that he was not her husband.

     "Aurora."

     The cold hollowness of the voice made her react instantly, she flipped backwards on the chair, her foot connecting with the creature's chin before she fell backwards into the sand. Still in motion, she continued to roll to her feet, opening her eyes for the first time.

     What it was definitely was not her husband. It had tried, but the image seemed to sag and droop, as if melting in the hot afternoon sun. The silver wings drooped, and even dripped puddles of tin on the sands, along with gobs of flesh from its arms and legs. It had just launched a spear, long missing its mark as it pierced the chair she had vacated just seconds ago.

     "Fine," she spat. "Wanna play rough? We can play rough." She gestured to the creature. The wave of energy erupted from her fingertips, plowing not only into her assailant, but the chair, the cooler, and about 20 feet of sand, sending the entire ensemble into the surf. The attacker dissolved instantly the second the salt water made contact.

     Aurora waded out into the ocean, retrieving the chair, the back pierced by the 12 ft spear, its toothed head having ripped a gaping hole in the fabric. There was no sign of the attacker, the ocean having dissolved him thoroughly.

     She frowned. Whoever this was didn't come from Del Mar. Somebody else had stepped into the assassination game.

****************************

     Tristan stood alone at the entrance cave overlooking the expanse of desert north of the Southern Cross homestead. His dirty blond hair whipped about in the hot breeze that wafted up from the desert floor, but that didn't break his thoughts. His side still smarted from where the spear had struck him. Thankfully he'd taken up wearing armor under his garb or the assassination attempt would have succeeded. Whatever creature had flung it had disappeared in a flash of purple smoke, leaving nothing but the spear for him to examine. It was definitely loaded with a particularly nasty combination of toxins and poisons and would have easily killed him.

    So who would want him dead? Perhaps the easier question would be who wanted him alive. He was definitely no saint, having slighted every possible creature he came across, especially his own kin. Perhaps his father had tried to atone for his sins. Naw, not Tim's style. Aurora would have just vaporized the planet to get rid of him. That pretty much was the same for the others.

    No, this was a different vector from the typical power struggles normally played by the Del Marian mutants; one that intrigued Tristan's tastes.

     Sara watched the mutant leader from a distance. She had been there when the spear struck, careening off the metal plating he'd kept hidden under the dark spun- cotton tunic. True she wanted not much more than to see this traitor among traitors punished for his crimes, but the overall idea that somebody other than a mutate was trying to eliminate a high level path like Tristan also made her blood run cold. She tucked a stray blond hair behind her ear and turned back to the kitchen work. Though not within the parameters of her service to the current leader, she found that cooking and cleaning took her mind off more irritating thoughts. But even peeling roots for dinner couldn't keep her mind occupied. Things wouldn't be like this if the Deh Mahr had stayed. Heck even if any of the bloodline had stayed their post, this lunatic wouldn't be in control. She mentally checked herself. No, things could be much worse. The Militant faction could be in charge, and then none of her kind would be free. Tristan at least allowed some movement between the clans.

     She curled her thin lips up in a slight wry smile. Movement. If only Megan had fully succeeded in her bid to destroy the advancing unknown force. Sara had thought she'd covered all the basis when
setting the diplomat up on what was ultimately a suicide run. Oh the blast generated did indeed wipe out the space ships, but it also knocked one of the moons out of alignment. The dramatic change of force between moon and planet was too much for Megan to handle and literally melted her in the psionic backlash. It had done a number on her and Timothy too, since they were the anchoring backup. With both her and the planet's strongest psi temporarily out of the picture, it had been nothing for Tristan to launch his campaign. Within a year, he had control of the Del Marian continent. He'd managed several bids to commandeer a space navel craft, but the Militant force had barely staved him off. He'd been using her to predict their next moves, along with the two minor incursion forces led by other mutants to take Tristan out.

     All of this had no bearing on the latest attack on the mutant leader. Whatever it was that tried to kill him was not even of this universe, from what the soothsayer could gather. No, this was a new ball in play. She looked up from her pots and pans, staring once again at the spear as it leaned against the wall. The metal on the head of the weapon and the wood that made up its shaft were not indigenous to the planet. If fact several alloys found on the honed edges were just not found anywhere. The poisons were definitely engineered; she'd found plastic polymers making up some of the more complex compounds; but the toxic parts were once again new, not even found in Militant databases. She stared at the weapon and a thought crossed her mind. Perhaps she could use it to do what no one else had succeeded at; kill the traitor. The second this idea passed through her brain, she felt him right behind her shoulder. "I wouldn’t try it," he warned, though his tone didn't show any malice. Not yet. "I would hate to have to get rid of another precog so soon."

     "Yes, Sire," she answered back meekly.. He knew it was only a passing thought; that she didn't have the guts to pull something so brazen off. She once again turned back to her work, keeping her steel
gray eyes averted from the psionic, not wanting any more stray thoughts to be caught.

             He was cornered. Pinned in the back of the abandoned lab out in the western wilds of the Del Marian continent, Daemon Ray Dannon looked about for an escape. Any escape. He thought he would be able to retrieve the program before the Militants caught his movements. He was wrong. He tucked his wild black hair up behind one ear as he strained to listen to the convoy advancing on his position. Heavy tread work and chains shook the floor, telling him that they had, indeed, pulled all the stops to capture this mutant.

     Well they wouldn't take him alive.

     He looked about the mish- mash of vials and electrical equipment, looking for something, anything, that would wipe out any trace of him and the building he stood in. The atrocities he'd seen were stomach churning; the fetal embryonic experimentation, gene- splicing, and mounted mechanical implants on growing children; all of this to develop a perfect killing machine. He snarled, rummaging through thecabinets and drawers until he found a small flat black pack. A smile crossed his pale, scarred visage. A snort and he slammed the pack on the floor, an oozing green liquid dribbling out of one corner. He closed his eyes, then slammed his foot into the goo.

     Cpt. Rory Cuhninghyund was almost to the first gates when the building erupted into fire. Large chunks of metal twisted and careened off the convoy, leaving a spray of wreckage for miles, along with any chance of pulling a mutant body from the wreckage. He swore quietly, then grabbed his transmitter, reluctantly reporting that he'd lost his target.

     Ash slowly made his way across the desert floor heading straight for the military base sprawling out in front of him. Already the establishment was on alert, sirens and lights announcing his coming. He smiled. It always amazed him that this planet reacted so chaotically at just the sight of a mutant, even one that was as low- grade as him. Granted he did screw the military over every now and then, but that was through underhanded exploitation, not with a show of force.

     Even now the customary duo of military hovercraft advanced towards his position. He stopped, patiently waiting for them to pull up, bail out, and surround him with weapons drawn. It was their leader that he spoke to. "Willie! Gee, long time no see. Didja miss me?"

     "Get your hands up, Ash," the thin man barked back, trying to show some backbone amongst his charges.

     "Fine. Fine. I understand. We have to jump through all these hoops before we can talk like civil people. Take me to your leader."

     The entourage loaded their prisoner and scurried back to base, quickly unloading him and pushing him roughly down the path to the main warehouse. Through a maze of hallways and finally to the
general's quarters. Ash shook his hair out, freeing it of the dust from the trip as his escorts snap to attention as their boss entered the room. The general was a barrel of a man, trimmed with a full mustache, greyed with age, matching his military cropped hair. "Dismissed," he barked, glaring at his catch. Ash smiled back amiably, as if the way the men were handling him was not much more than an entertaining amusement. The men, save for the aforementioned Willie, left, the younger man closing the door and standing at ease in front of the portal, should Ashmire attempt to escape.

     The mutant showed no sign of leaving. He moved around the chair and sat down, holding his hands out, now cuffed, for the general to remove. When he refused to do so, Ash shrugged his shoulders, then snapped his wrists down. They made no contact with anything, yet the cuffs fell off as if broken. Ashmire shrugged, smiled again, then folded his hands, resting them on the desk, grinning at the general. His captor refused to sit, instead pacing back and forth, looking out of the bay window overlooking the base. "Where are they?" he finally asked.

     "They are actually a she, sir.. and she's up there." He stood up and walked around the desk, resting a hand on the general's shoulder, pointing with his free hand to guide the man's eyes up the mountain towering over the base. The general blinked, squinted, then reached for his binoculars, using the imaging buttons to focus on the glint he caught on an outcropping.

     There was a girl holding a very large missile launcher pointed directly at the cabin. From what the old man could see was that the device was mounted directly onto the girl's shoulder, the sites poking up from a gash in her arm. "Android?" the general asked, not afraid, just amazed by the depth of workmanship.

     "Yeah, and she’s armed for bear too."

     "I see. Don't suppose she's up for sale. You're not tight for cash, are you?"

     "I am, but I figured I would just come for my back pay. Can I assume that you're ready to talk to me now?" Ash had his victorious smile in place as the general turned around to glare at him. "Besides," he beamed. "We haven't chatted in such a loooong while, Alexander."

     The general finally sighed, seeing that things were at a stalemate for now. They both returned to their seats, the old man clearing his throat. "Yes, yes. What do you want."

     "Want? WANT? I wanted my fair share of the take from the western assault since it was MY information that gave you the upper hand. I wanted my own little pad away from the action, but you chose to leave me for dead after the last wave. Seemed you didn't want to give me anything I really earned." He waved his hand as the general started to look worried. "Don't fret, big guy. I just want a few questions
answered. Nothing life- threatening. Let's start with these." He tossed two of the throwing stars on Alexander's desk, mush to the chagrin of Willie as he personally had searched the mutant before loading him into the truck. The general looked down at the weapons. "We made those to your specifications, did we not?"

     "Apparently not."

     Now it was the general's turn to smile. "Cut yourself with one, did you? The nanogene started eating away at your immune system? Yes, we added a few engineered microbes. You didn't happen to come here for a cure, did you?"

     "No. I feel fine."

     Alexander frowned, looking the mutant over. Indeed, if the man had been scratched by the stars, he would have been sweating with a fever by now. Perhaps the dosage was too weak. That would be
something he would have to check into later.

     Ash grinned slyly once again, seeing he'd managed to stump the old man. Oh he'd been scratched, but thanks to a mega dosage of some nasty antibiotic engineered stolen from his cyborg compatriot, the microbe had been driven out. "I was just wondering if you actually created it, or if somebody commissioned you to make it. I know that the Militants seemed to be a bit low on income and resources of late. Are they milling out work?"

     "No... no...." Alexander was put out.. He hated dealing with Ashmire, but it usually turned out profitable. Even though he wasn't one of the most powerful mutants created by their stables, he had.. talents.... and had acquired quite a few yummy toys to flesh out their arsenal. "We mixed up that batch here, in fact. Based it on your DNA even. No anti-virus, if you were curious."

     "Ah.. well.." the blond thief shrugged. He knew the old man was lying, but let that mistake go for now.

     Now the general sat, leaning forward, his gaze burrowing into Ashmire's eyes. "You're not working for him anymore, are you?" This was spoken more as a fact than a question. "I thought things were quiet in the south." Again he gazed hard at the mutant. "Your working for Her, aren't you?"

     "Her? I don't think so. She'd clip my head off just as readily as yours. I have not seen skin nor scale of her. I don't think anybody truly knows where she is."

     But the general was waving a finger. "No... no.. I think you do know something. Maybe not directly...."

     Now Ashmire frowned. He knew the general was no 'path, but the way he was talking.... The mutant looked around, catching Willie squinting hard at him. A quick snap of his foot and Willie's head bounced off the door, making the thin body crumple to the floor. Ash turned slowly back to Alex. "You've been busy."

     The general was frowning, seeing another of his ruses broken. "It's not as impressive as you think. Williams had more than a few DXB blips in his chart. We just pumped him up a bit. I didn't think he could get inside your skull, though."

     Ash didn't seem as upset as a mutant mentally violated normally should. And he wouldn't. Alex has always been sparring with him, ever since his induction into the Militant regime. This was just tit- for- tat type bantering, seeing what he could and couldn't get away with. In fact the general seemed ready for business now, pulling out a cred payment card. "You really need the cash?"

     "Always, boss. You know my tastes. And it's expensive over there."

     "And your kindred?"

     "Sachell is being a pain in the ass, as usual. Going by his fighting name Brimstone again."

     "Doing the superhero gig again with Aurora?"

     "No, no.. He's running a myriad of scams. Got this God- awful dive of a bar parked halfway up the side of this massive mountain. No business to speak of, but he's got funds. He’s always got food, drink, and an interesting bevy of technology. Seems that the major money maker is gun- running."

     "And the Deh Mahr?"

     "Nope. No sign of Auntie Aurora anywhere. She must've skipped out. I think the walking tin can knows where she is, but he sure ain't talkin; at least not where any of my bugs are."

     "That's a shame...." The general reached into a drawer, pulling out a tin with several hand rolled cigars. "Your faves," he noted, pushing the opened tin towards the mutant while lighting up one for himself.

     "Thank you, Captain.. I mean General. When did they give you that distinction?"

     "When you all escaped from me. Booted me out to this burning blister of an armpit in the desert. How the heck did your people live out in this heat all these years?"

     "Cold- blooded. We needed the heat."

     They sat, smoking the cigars quietly for a few minutes, enjoying the calm. The old man leaned forward, handing Ashmire the cred card. "Cashable in most of the towns west of here." He paused. "Sure you don't want to do some freelance for us? We miss your talent."

     "No, I've got bigger fish to fry. Good day." The mutant did snap a proper salute in respect for his old boss. He pulled Willie's body to the side, then opened to door, pausing when the armed squad waiting outside the door raised their weapons.

     General Alexander stood up and stuck his head out the door. "Let him go. That's an order."
The troop looked down at the prone body of their immediate supervisor, then up to the big boss man. They reluctantly dropped the muzzles on their weaponry and let Ashmire pass.

     Ashmire could hear the grinding noise of Mack's left shoulder. "I'm back," he
announced, sitting down on one of the boulders.

     The android seemed to struggle under the weight of the lazer cannon bolted to the left side of her chassis. "I lost tracking at least twice and almost fired once. You didn't tell me how badly this planet's magnetic structure would screw up my sensors."

     That, indeed, had been a problem. He'd tried to outfit the robot with the best tech stabilizers he had, but without Brimstone's advice and toys, he knew Mack would have a tough time trying to counteract the discordant nature of the planet. It was because the planet was out of phase with the normal space around it. Even now he could hear the tracking slip and he reached forward before the nose of the cannon could dip and bumped the rock outcropping. "You can put that away now. We got what we came for."

     "But I wanna blow those bastards up!"

     Ash sighed. Mack had become more and more combative since he first met her. He'd
been trying to get her to act more human, but it seemed she picked up the more blood thirsty traits. He supposed that what he got hanging around the seedy side of Rydin. He looked to the military base. Normally he would have said no, but they Had engineered that nightmare of a microbe, and Willie's ability to glean facts from his brain didn't exactly give him any confidence.

     Pity. He rather liked General Alexander. He reached into his pockets, drawing out the old man's personal cred card, his pin number written on the back of the plastic strip. It had been easy to pinch the man's pocket, even with Willie looking on, but since their attention had been diverted to his angelic android, they weren't paying attention. He wondered how much the military man's salary really was. Well, he'd find out.

     "Go ahead."

     He turned, not wanting to see Mack's exuberance as she let the missile go. At the last second, she lost the hard lock from the tracking mechanism, but it hardly needed to be perfect. The missile impacted thirty feet north of the main cabin, demolishing everything within a five mile radius.

               Aurora Del Mar looked out over the empty ocean bed. The mega-tsunami had passed more than twelve hours ago, carrying most of the ocean floor along with it. The hotel was gone. In fact the only structure left was the rock outcropping where the man-made structures had stood 48 hours earlier. Funny how much death and destruction followed her. But through the battle alongside Crystal and Luna, she had felt a calling. She probably had been expecting it for some time, but it still surprised her; how someone as chaotic and strung out as she could be needed some sort of stability. A home. She'd been avoiding it, taking this sabbatical as a substitution for something she really needed.

     She managed to find some plastic sheeting; a menu leftover from the main hotel, and scribbled with a wax marker on its face. "Went home," she wrote. "Follow me when you can." She slipped a lock of her hair in between the pages and wedged the parcel under a substantial boulder. Chances were that Estor wouldn't find her note, but he probably would guess where she went, especially since their vacation spot had been effectively wiped out. He always seemed to know her mind anyhow.

     With a sigh, she triggered one of Timothy's vortex openers and stepped into the swirling portal

         Cpt. Johnathan Pryce led his squad carefully into the abandoned rubble that once was the mutant headquarters for the Eastern Seaboard. The interplanetary defense system had sounded off almost two hours ago, indicating a major temporal shift. Pryce's elite squad had been sent in to handle the matter.
He frankly hadn't seen too much To handle. The hand held measurement devices deployed by two of his men had located a major spike within the heart of the ruins, ending in a large communal room that still had the lingering stench of decay and rot. A single track of fresh, barefoot humanoid prints disturbed the layers of dust, but they criss- crossed themselves; as if the person who made them was lost themselves.

     A quick flash of gray to his right and down one of the long corridors made his entire team freeze. Definitely something moving down here. He gestured short and quick, moving his men into more favorable positions.

     That's when the woman stepped from a side cave. One of the point men fired, the heavy slugs of metal slamming into the granite wall, split seconds after the girl dove back into the branching room. The rifleshots echoed down the passageways, fading to silence, only to be broke, this time by the girl. A rumble shook the walls and a then a force. A wall of pressure knocked down his advanced scouts. One of the rifles was knocked from a clenched grip. What fell to the floor made no sense. The weapon was shattered, as if splintered like rotted wood instead of melted.

     That's when he knew they were in serious trouble.

     "What, by Teeth and Toenails do you guys think you're doing?" she bellowed down the corridor, rubbing her arm where she had thwacked it against the rock wall as she had dove to safety. "Somebody's gonna get themselves killed and I sure don't want it to be me.... Again!"

     It was Frank, Pryce’s second, that gave him the bad news. The gaunt thin man was also a mutant by blood, but barely ranked on any scale. Occasionally he could fathom out psionic possibilities, if the source was strong enough. Apparently it was. “Sir. That woman.. I know that resonance, but it can’t be. It has to be a clone of the Deh Mahr.”

             Pryce frowned. Of course that was a mutant in there. Only such a creature could be fast enough to dodge bullets, much less make mincemeat of their weaponry. Yet for all that power, she hadn't tried eliminating the team itself. From what he knew of the infamous “God of Chaos”, they would have been creamated by now. There might be some hope of salvaging the situation. "Ma'am, I need you to come out here and show me your identification and registration cards. This is not a safe place for you to be."

     “I’ll say, especially with youse guys shooting up the store!” Aurora found herself caught in a familiar situation; pinned down by a knot of militants. A nervous knot to top it off. She wasn't a true psi, but she could clearly sense the jittery 'path tickling around in her brain, picking up her vibes and becoming quite unnerved by what he was finding. She had to smile a bit. She could have easily blown the lot of them out of the caves, but it wouldn't have gotten her any answers. Like when she was. Where was evident; Seadragon Cliffs, but after examining the layer of dust, it had been a while since it had seen any action.

     Well, time to shake the tree. "I ain't no clone," she yelled back down the tunnel. "I'm an original. The Deh Mahr. Bearer of death and destruction and all that jazz. 'Suppose you all've heard of me?"

     The tension amped up several notches on the stress-o'-meter.

     Aurora rolled her eyes, though wallowed in smug satisfaction that she still had That effect on the populace. "Now just hang on out there. I'm not here to start any trouble. I'm just looking for someone. Captain Bennet. Know where I can find him?

Pryce froze a second, hearing the man's name. A sigh and he shouted his reply down the cavern. Neither party had ventured a peek out to look, so this was the only way to clearly communicate. "War Admiral Bennet was my grandfather. He's been gone more than twenty years now, Ma'am; same as you if you are who you claim to be. You both died during the third event."

"Third?" Aurora frowned once again. It seemed that she kept dancing around this eventual team up of her and Bennet, this trip being the closest she's come. Not that she really Wanted to, since it seemed that it would be her death if she did. Apparently the planet held up though if these yahoos survived. "I can assure you, Sir; that I'm alive and quite able to defend myself, but frankly I'm freezing my tail off. Can I just come out there and talk things sensibly with you all?" Pryce nodded and his forward scouts pulled up, pointing their rifles skyward and out where she would see. The four flanking guards kept their draw, just in case. What emerged from the darkened tunnels even Pryce hadn't counted on. The girl was wearing nothing more than a bathing suit. Dust had collected over her feet from where she had wandered the halls, but save for the purple one piece and a 3/4 length thin, white, terry cloth robe; proudly embroidered with the name "Lounge Lizard," she wore nothing else. And she was indeed cold. It was late fall and the ambient temperature inside the caves was around fifty degrees, too cold for either man or reptile; which was what the Deh Mahr was if he believed the stories.

     She stood in front of them; arms lightly cross around her body as she shivered. "Any of youse feel chivalrous?" When all she got was uneasy stares, she snapped a bit. "A coat, you ninnies!"

     Pryce gave her his coat, watching the tension leech from the room, but not the fascination. She looked every bit the woman in the old vids. If she wasn’t the true Deh Mahr, she was a dead ringer for it. “I promise it will be warmer where we’re going,” he told her, watching her shivver.

           "Okay... sounds good." She looked around at the twelve men gawking at her. "You don't need to handcuff me or trank me or anything like that, do you?" It was a test of tolerances. She was just trying to figure out the borders. They did nothing to aggrevate her mood. They just escorted her out of the caves and to the awaiting helocopters. She pulled up hesitantly, staring at the whirlly birds.

     "Is there a problem, Ma'am?"

                Aurora really wished he wouldn't call her that, though she was sure he meant no disrespect. "Nothing. I'm just not used to flying."

Crystal made her way through the universe, a burst of rainbow colored energy that kept well away from any inhabitated planets. It was not too difficult for the dranix, not many planets were inhabitated

and the universe was a big place. She seemed to be searching for something that she could not find. That too was not a surprise; she didn't even really know what it was she was looking for.

     As the time went on she realized that she would not find what she was seeking without help, but she did not even know where to find that. Pausing a moment her physical form would be seen. She was a frail elf, pale to the point of seeming dead with striking blue eyes and rainbow colored hair. She was wearing a rainbow colored robe today and her wings were folded neatly at her back. The annoyance she felt was nearly impossible to find on her face; she had long since learned to keep her emotions inside.
She looked around a bit in the void of space, letting out a sigh that would never be heard in the vaccuum. She then turned and made her way to the place she knew she could find peace to meditate in. Several hours later, billions of light years away she approached a clear platform in space, setting down and flickering back into her physical form. Soft steps took her up to the rift that could be felt but not seen; the rift that led to the Void, and Chaos within it.

     She slowly folded her legs under her and sat on that invisible platform in space. She closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts, reaching out to find the answers she seeked. She could feel all the energies of the multiverse from this spot; it existed in all universes but was part of none. As she searched, though, she felt another all-too-familiar pressense approaching.

     "Moonguider...." The word was said with a bit of contempt. This man had robbed her of her sight, her psionics, everything that had made her what she was. He was a self-centered elf whom seemed to take great joy in causing suffering to the Rift Masters and all whom crossed their paths. She slowly stood and turned, looking to the cause of so much of her pain and suffering.

     "What do you want here, Moony?" The young dranix asked the question with a slight smirk. She did not really care what the ancient elf wanted, she just wished that he would be gone. He was taking far too much of her time from her thoughts and her true goals.

     "Hmm...you make me sound unwelcome, Crystal." The elf just put on a wry grin. He was only around six feet tall, short for his breed of elves, with golden eyes and long black hair. He wore a simple black robe that he said fit his moods most of the time. He sat on the rock that seemed to perpetually follow him when he did not feel like standing. Most, though, thought he brought it with him in a failed attempt to look like an old sage.

     "Are you ever welcome anywhere, Moonguider?" She scowled slightly, something in Moonguider's eyes told her that she was about to become a puppet once more. Needless to say
she was not entirely thrilled at that thought.

     "Sometimes they welcome me when I come home, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. You seem to be on a quest to aquire a power that you really don't seem to need." The elf slowly stood up causing the rock to disappear. He stepped slowly towards Crystal and crossed his arms in front of himself.

     "A power I don't need? What are you talking about?" Crystal narrowed her eyes to
dangerous slits. She knew that Moonguider watched them all, and this stunk of some way to
control her more than he already did.

     "How to put this...they called you an avatar, but you aren't, and I will make sure
you are," the elf said in a monotone voice. "The power you seek now will do you nothing and we both know it. Even with a minor psionic booster like a circlet you feel no power increase, your psionic abilities are fully developed."

     "Get to the point, Moonguider, I don't have time for this." Crystal backed up from the elf slowly. This was going badly and she knew it.

     "Stop chasing after that sphere of psionics or whatever it is called and start depending on the powers you have. You represent a balance and that is where your true power lies. Unlike what Traveler might think, the goal of the Rift Masters is to retain balance between order and chaos, not destory chaos entirely." The elf seemed rather deattached while saying this, he had basically told Crystal that the Rift Master's whole quest was on large lie.

     "So in other words, you've been lying to Traveler this whole time to manipulate his actions. Well, I had already suspected that much. What does this little rant have to do with me, though?" She knew there was a catch to being told the truth about the lie. She then began to pace around the invisible platform. The last thing she wanted was to be caught in a corner by the elf.

     "I'm going to give you the power you seek and at the same time shift the balance of power in the multiverse. Of course, I must be careful to maintain balance. The question now is if you want the power to protect your friend Teclis and take your revenge."

     The elf knew about her feelings for Teclis and Luna and her vow for revenge. He knew how unstable she was and exactly what to say. It came as no surprise then when Crystal made her next statement. "Stop talking and get it over with, you're going to do it anyways despite what I might feel about it."

     The elf stepped forward then calling the staff that Traveler often carried to his hand. He took the large rainbow-colored diamond off of the top and caused it to float in front of Crystal. With a quick gesture of his hand the diamond flew into Crystal's body in a burst of rainbow light. Crystal herself did not seem adversely affected by this, she was used to this kind of energy. The elf's next move was far less expected. As he raised his hand again six small orbs appeared, shattering and releasing the shadowed being contained within. Crystal's eyes widened at the sight of the shadows and she tried to protest but she was too late. The shadows swirled around a bit before flying straight into her body, attracted by the chaos already contained within her. The protest she was about to make turned instantly into a scream of pain and torment as her frail body gave out. Moonguider just shook his head slowly. "All power comes at a price. Have a nice trip dear," the elf said as he pushed her off the platform, letting her drift and a rapid pace through the multiverse. Crystal herself just watched as the platform and the elf drifted away, her body numbed by the conflicting powers within her.

     She would soon find herself being pulled in by a strange force that called to both halves of her being. Her eyes went wider, if that was at all possible, as she realized where she was drfiting. "Del Mar...? No...," she protested softly, but there was nothing she could do to change her drifting, she was powerless.

     As she drifted into the gravitational pull of the planet she closed her eyes, her own internal cold keeping her from burning up upon entry, but she was moving too fast to stay concious. Her final thoughts were a cry from her mind as she tried to reach out for help. ~Teclis!~ The telepathic waves would sweep through the multiverse at the speed of thought, seeking out her small friend.

     Hours later, the first inspection team would arrive at the sight of large impact that had shook the eastern part of the continent. The crater was at least one hundred feet in radius, and seemed to have been caused by a huge spaceborn impact. The only thing they could find though were the residual traces of a powerful psionic force, and a strange kind of energy that was both familiar and ftime. As for the source of the impact, that seemed to have vanished...but it would not stay vanished for long.

     It had been a few days since the unexplained impact and during that time no clue had turned up to what had caused it. Crystal herself had turned off her psionic abilities and had tried to blend in with the general populace as best she could. She had no clue where she was, and really had not tried to find out. All she knew was that she was in one of the craziest cities she had been in, and the largest on the eastern part of the continent.She had changed a bit from when she had last been seen zipping through the universe. Her hair was now dyed a dark purple and kept in a proffesional-looking bun. She now had a tatoo on her left shoulder of a drake that those who knew her and her friend's would recognize as Teclis in the form that she remembered him the best as. A ring of blue dragon scales was also done starting at either side of her navel, a large rainbow colored gem having been inserted in the middle.

     Those features were all hidden though, for she could currently be seen in a black bodysuit of sorts. It was like a second skin, and all one piece with long legs and arms, hiding all of her skin but her hands and face. There was a belt around her waist, with a high-tech looking buckle. Fasted to the belt was a holster with a compact plasma pistol, two flash grenades and two stun grendades, all keyed to her fingerprints. Along with that were a pair of black gloves tucked in the belt, and a portable nano-generator (to refill the grenades). Her ears were now pierced, with chain earrings in both ears, a small rainbow crystal dangling from one, and a black crystal from the other. Around her forehead was a circlet of complex circuitry, that when activated would create a small targeting reticle that would come down over her left eye. To finish the whole ensamble off were those black combat boots, made of almost the same material as the rest of the outfit. Her wings still stood out behind her, with strange devices set over the arms of them. The purpose of the devices was odd, as was the purpose of the buckle and the real purpose of the headband. Somewhere the little dranix had found someone who could make a situational cloaking device..the buckle linked all three pieces together so that they would synch up and keep her out of sight. To make matters worse...somehow she had found papers legalizing all of it. The little dranix had definetly been busy, she even walked openly down the middle of the streets now. The question was...since she had no I.D....how long until someone from the goverment decided to question her?
Woe be it to the one that tried..

     It took three days for a small squad to discover her as the swept the northern end of the city. “Hello, gentlemen. I couldn't help but notice that you were scanning me, is something the matter?" She would smile slightly, but her back was held rigid. She was a captain in the Demrothian army, and she knew how to exude a sense of command.”

     Frankly Leutenant Frank Wrothian hadn't expected such a prim and proper response, at least not from one dressed as she was, like most of the grunge walking the streets in this neck of the woods. He ran one more scan before putting the device away. "We're trying to find those responsible for a bombing out in the northern annex two days ago, and have been following an odd trail through the city. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

       "A bombing? I don't keep that kind of ordanance on me.... Then again, I did crash land about two days ago...and given velocity...angle of impact...it could have been me. The crater I dragged my body out of was pretty deep. But, at least nothing but myself was hurt, eh?" She grinned slightly, she had picked up his thoughts on her clothing. Pity that soilder did not know what combat enhanced body armor was. Or the fact that it also had situational camoflauge built into it. Pity, he was not the brightest sort, but what could she expect of military types?

            Frank stared. If this woman was even partially right, he needed to bring her in, but also; if she was right, he wouldn't be able to. He sighed. "I'm afraid you'll have to come along with us, Ma'am; until we can get this all straightened out." He reached forward and grabbed her elbow, praying that she would cooperate.

             She smiled softly. "All right, dear...but hands off...you're not my type." Where was a good female officer when she needed one? Oh well, she would walk along with him. "Oh, and since I know you're curious...yes, I can kill you faster without my weapons than with them, so disarming me won't do you a damn bit of good." That innocent grin played along her lips, she always enjoyed toying with the simple-minded ones.

           Frank curled his lip a bit. He didn't like this girl one bit. It just smelled of trouble. He sighed, then let go of her elbow, gesturing for her to follow the two leading guards to the awaiting van.

     That was when the hulking tailing shaodw struck. A high intensity energy beam plowed into the back of the left flanking cop, fairly much melting him in half. The crowd dispersed, the guards dropped to their knees and fired into the alleyway from where the beam had originated. Suddenly Crystal found herself yanked sideways, then in the strong scaled arms of a massive creature. Gunfire plowed into the building, but whatever this creature was scurried up the side of the brick building just a hair's breath away from the fireing crew. Almost a hair's breath. Two shots struck flesh, causing the massive body to jerk, but it never lost its hold on Crystal, nor its grip on the masonry. He was soon on the roof and running across it, taling a humongous jump to make the second, and the third. At the fourth, he jumped.. down, landing squarely on the ground from a ten story drop. He then opened a grate and scurried into the darkness of the sewers.

          "Well...that was amusing.... Couldn't you have found a slightly more appealing place to go scurrying off with me though?" She did not seem overly flustered by this strange event, merely brushing off her strange uniform. "Now then.... I know what those guards wanted from me, and I know what I want from me.... but.... What is it exactly that you want from me, eh? And please don't say I'm lunch, because you'll find that one of would end up dead, and it's not going to be me." She frowned sligthtly now, she'd much rather have been with the militants than hiding in a sewer.

Crystal would lift her head the large scaled creature in front of her, figuring she was probably a dragon giving its large size. "Well, now that we've established that I'm not the person you're looking for.... Who exactly are you, where am I and what exactly were you looking for instead of me?"

        Indeed it was a dragon. Crystal had seen Del Marian dragons before, but this one had none of the mammalian traits of the others. It must have extended over 300 ft into the dark of the sewers. Its head alone was ten feet from snout to poll of head, its horns traveling another 6. Crystal also noted that the horns were old and cracked, one tip broken off. The normally glistening scales were dry, surprising since the beast was standing chest deep in muck. It reeked of oldness. It's voice was grumbling, low and soft, and barely understandable: probably because it's jaw had been broken long ago and had never set right. "I am Regina," she coughed. Definitely a she in tone. "We thought you had returned, but you are not her. Yet...." The beast inhaled, drawing in a snootful of the rancid air. "You are Like her. Everything and nothing. Balanced yet disjointed. Maybe you are kin, yes?" She came in closer. One eye was milked over, the same side as the broken horn. The other was big and black, wide open to allow what little light the room allowed to reflect images, shimmering shapes across the iris.

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She'd take a step back from the dragon and quirk a brow. "Sounds like yer talking about Aurora...and I guess we're sort of related..kind of..." She would reach out quietly while she was talking, bouncing from one psionic on the planet to the next, searching about for Aurora, having this odd feeling she was somewhere nearby.
"Of course, I haven't seen Aurora in a bit..though she was being hunted last I checked..at least, I think. My name's Crystal, by the way..." She had learned a new trick since the orbs were so rudely fused with her body..she called it the chaos algorithm...it basically let her scramble her psionic messages so those who were non-mutants on the planet would just get an awful headache..but those who were..like Aurora would recieve the message clear as day...and the messege was rather simple...
~Aurora! Where the heck are you?!~
"so...umm...what is this place anyways? " The little dranix would say with an oh-so-innocent smile.

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          The great dragon snorted again, this time with a disgruntled overtone. "Home. No place else to go. Too many green men. Too many mutants. We are almost gone, so we hide. Not a good place." The mammoth of a monster slowly turned and headed down the river of muck and ooze. Crystal's scaly kidnapper likewise followed along the service ledge, grabbing Crystal gently by the elbow and making her walk along with them.

                   They entered a large chamber, faintly lit by glowsticks stuck into the cracking mortal of the rotting sewer. About ten creatures of various breeds collected around a small fire built upon a mound of garbage in the center of the room, high and dry from the filthy water that flowed around and down to the lower levels. All heads looked up, casing over their visitor, all eyes filled with mistrust; a mistrust that was quickly put down by the dragon.

       "This is Crystal," Regina said in that low coughing voice. "She is friend to Deh Mahr."

       Only two of those onlooking creatures seemed to believe that statement. The others continued to glare, even as Regina's scout picked up Crystal and jumped the water to land on the upbuilt island, setting her down next to the fire.

Pryce was perplexed by this. She did have the ability to change into a dragon form. At least if they fully believed her hype. He wondered if had the same vertigo in her scaled version. For now, he wouldn't press his luck. "It's okay, Ma'am. The flight is short. We'll be in East in no time."

The view was quite breathtaking. The bustling city spread for miles, butting up into the backside of Seadragon Cliff proper, then sprawling westward. Only the harshest conditions of desert kept it contained. The juxtaposition of medieval to modern was ever confusing, but familiar to Aurora, whom had watched this favored city grow in her day. Now it was massive, overgrown to her eye. There were dead spots within the city's walls where nothing productive grew, dark blemishes on a bustling metropolis. She turned back to look over her shoulder, seeing Pryce staring at her. "It's grown a lot since I last saw it."

Pryce couldn't figure it out. The woman they had plucked from the abandoned Seadragon Cliffs couldn't possibly be the mega- mutant that had nearly wiped out the planet over twenty years ago; yet all the scientific tests they ran her through pointed to the fact that she was the Deh Mahr. Everything from DNA sampling to wavelength amplification proved it, yet Aurora knew nothing of the past events. He knew how the planet was a bit askew from the rest of the universe, but he hadn't figured that time would be bent as well.
Apparently it was, and their prize just took that fact in stride. She had settled down in her quarters; Not a prison cell, just small quarters with no exits and several cameras monitoring her every move. She had let them take blood and skin cells, X-ray, Y-ray, Gamma- ray, and hook up every know measurement device know to the Militants. All this she took in stride, and that fact worried Pryce. The Deh Mahr wasn't known for patience, which meant she had to be up to something.
She had made a few acquaintances while under observation. A couple of the scientist had even allowed her some access within the complex, like the lunchroom, where every soldier made sure to visit and get their first look at "the enemy" and found she was not the opposition. She told them stories, several that Pryce doubted. The fact that she claimed to be married to a demi god was very susceptible. Not so much that she married a demigod, but that she married at all. Mutant kind had long abandoned such an old-fashioned concept. In fact it was the Deh Mahr that had proposed the shift away from closed family units to keep the breed alive. Needless to say, all her other claims, like being turned into an elf, then an ifrit; were all bogus.
What she had no idea about was what had caused the smoking crater just north of East

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     The mighty mega mutant was currently indulging in breakfast. Pryce knew he couldn't keep the girl under lock and key forever, so had allowed her to "tag along" with one of the training groups. Sitting across from her was the regiment's only other rated mutant, an EP-4 whom had taken up the call name Allen. He was an empath, but still had trouble filtering out the tangle of emotions. Aurora had found him crying in the bathroom, his senses on override because the general's niece had just recently lost her puppy. The big man had the misfortune of brushing up against the 8 year old girl and getting hit with that emotion before he was prepared. It was her touch that scrambled the sense and brought Allen back to his own mind. Now he followed her like a lost puppy, playing the bodyguard. Not that she needed it. Combat training scenarios proved that to a painful point when she easily disarmed any man set against her, even though she refused to use her talent against them. She may have been a bit rusty, but she could still break a man's arm in a pinch.

     The clique was enjoying a slimy pile of cold scrambled eggs when she heard Crystal calling out her name. She paused in mid bite, seeing Allen looking up at her as he picked up the change of tempo in her. "You okay?" he asked.

       "Uhm.. the eggs... I think I've got a bit of sour stomach. I'll go visit the little girl's room, if you gentlemen don't mind." She picked up her empty tray and left it at the kitchen window before slipping into the lavatory. She locked the door, then cupped her hand over her ear. She knew it was just a gesture, but mentally, it helped her align with the broadcaster. She was not a true psi, but blood relatives can pick up a rapport. "Crystal? Where the hell are you?"

       Tristan snapped his head up, having hear the question loud and clear. "What the?!" he sputtered, then sat up in the bed. He looked to his right and saw Sara still snoozing, so it wasn't her. Besides, that sounded like a long distance broadcast. He got up out of the bed and dressed, deciding that his padded leathered armor may be suitable for the day.

       Soon he was down in the "War Room". Of course it had been years since it was ever used as one, but he had kept it up and running, mainly to keep tabs on the Militants. The skeleton crew of three people were scurrying about, obviously having picked up the transmission as well. "Where'd that come from?" he barked, irritated that nobody had picked up any warning.

       Because that transmission screamed of chaos.

       "Sir," one of the young men answered, bringing up several reams of printout paper. "We are picking up two askew transmissions. They both are coming from East. One.. well.. one of them, sir, is coming from the military base."

       That didn't sit well with Tristan at all. "Get me the General on the line. Now."

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