At the risk of sounding cliche, this is my first time writing a story for Nifty. I've been reading here for a while and thought that I should contribute something to this pool of stories. Comments are welcome at Mist_dark@hotmail.com
Please write me and tell me what you think of the story. I enjoy writing, but I freely admit that I'm an e-mail junkie, and I love getting it. Also please excuse any minor spelling errors. I think I got most of them, but since my Canadian spelling goes deep you may occasionally find 'color' as 'colour'.
Okay, the disclaimer part. First off this story isn't supposed to imply anything about the musical group Nsync. If any of them happen to be gay, then that's their business, not mine. Also this parts of this story are based loosely on the RPG Rifts, all trademarks belong to Palladium books and Kevin Siembieda. Basically I am just using the geography associated with that world. If you are offended by homosexual content, are too young in your area, or it is illegal in your area please leave. I don't want anyone to get in trouble for this.
Enjoy, Rune
PART ONE
The soft clicking of the man's boots on the stone floor filed the room as he paced. It had been two days since he had last seen or heard from Nydia. He walked over to a table and picked up a piece of paper that outlined what she had to accomplish. A series of complex enchantments were the only things that were not crossed off the list. Though he was an adept magic user, Nydia was far superior when it came to manipulating the delicate fabric of space.
Sighing he set the paper down and walked over to a mirror mounted on a nearby wall. His raven black hair hung down to his mid-back and was held in place with a small metal clasp. His black slacks and shirt showed an athletic figure few could resist, either male or female. The darkness of his clothing also served to contrast his pale skin. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear before continuing his pacing.
"You can be so sweet at times brother," a woman's voice floated across the room.
Stopping in mid-pace the man turned to face the doorway. The woman stood less then an inch shorter then his six foot two frame and wore her black hair to her thigh. Other then those differences there was very little to distinguish the two of them. Often the two had been confused as twins, though they were in fact just brother and sister. "Perhaps Nydia, did you finish the enchantments?"
Nydia's crimson robes shifted as she crossed the room, it appeared as if she had simply glided across the floor the chair. "Karr, would I be here right now if I hadn't?"
Karr nodded and continued his pacing. "Are you sure this will work? If it doesn't we won't get another chance to try. The amount of energy released in this ritual will attract a lot of attention."
Irritation crossed Nydia's beautiful face. "I'm aware of how important this ritual is, and I've no intentions of making a mistake. I've waited almost a century for this celestial alignment." She poured herself a glass of wine from the decanter on the table. "I've put too much effort into laying those enchantments for this not to work."
"I know that Nydia, I'm just nervous about this whole thing." Karr stopped pacing and glanced down at the list on the table. "Once you're in their dimension will your powers still function properly? Will you have enough power to bring them here and get back yourself?"
"One of the spells I laid down earlier today links me to this dimension," she took a sip of her wine. "I'll be drawing my power through that link. Even if I exhaust my resources bringing them here I'll be able to regenerate enough quickly to jump back myself."
"How are you going to bring them here?"
"I was setting that up yesterday. Every creature has a native dimension, one of the things that lets me travel so freely is the fact that I know a spell that will jump me to my native dimension. I reconfigured their native dimension to this one and I'll cast that spell to jump them 'home'."
"What effect will that have on them?" Karr asked with a touch of worry in his voice. "We can't harm them in anyway. They're too important."
"Don't worry about it brother. They would have felt nothing more then a momentary dizziness," Nydia assured. "It will have no effect on them whatsoever, until I cast that spell."
"I see." Karr moved to the window and glanced at the setting sun. "If the alignment is at midnight you will need your rest. I'll wake you when it's time."
Nydia stood. "Thank you brother, and don't worry. I'll be able to do this." She turned and left. "We have no choice, this is our last chance," she whispered to herself as she closed the door.
Midnight found the two siblings surrounded by the magical energy of the Ley line. Nydia was chanting inside the circle that she had drawn earlier. Karr kept a respective distance from her. He didn't want to disturb her and ruin the ritual that both of them had worked years to prepare for. Also Karr wasn't sure what would happen at the end of the ritual and didn't want to be caught in a magical backlash.
Nydia dropped to her knees and kept chanting. She gestured at the air in a seemingly chaotic pattern with her right hand. The magical energy began to form into a bluish ball above her head. A gesture caused the ball to shoot forward and slam into the ground. A line of blue energy shot up from the ground. Nydia clapped her hands together and slowly pulled them apart. The line shimmered a moment before widening into a small gateway. Standing, Nydia stepped out of the circle and looked over her shoulder at her brother. "Remember brother. Find them. Do not let the wilds of this world claim them." Nydia's form disappeared through the gateway.
"Take care sister, and come back to us," Karr said as the gateway snapped shut after Nydia.
Nydia shifted in the chair she was sitting in. She had been sitting there for over five hours waiting for them to arrive. Here eyes were unaffected by the near total darkness as she scanned the room for what would have been thousandth time. It was very similar to her own sitting room. Several pieces of furniture made a semi-circle facing inward toward the middle of the room. Shelves and tables lined the walls.
She sighed and opened herself to her magic. Once again she thanked the intuition she had had to set up the link to her home world. This world had almost no magic in it and she knew she would have died if she couldn't feel the magic. A quick mental scan told her that they were almost asleep. Their bodies fighting with their minds about sleep. Their minds told them that their bodies were tired, but their bodies were so full of adrenaline that sleep didn't come easily. Reaching out again she touched each of their minds and nudged them closer to sleep. Nydia gave silent thanks that Justin had insisted they all spend the night. Something about not risking the traffic.
She gave them a few moments to completely fall asleep before she headed for the stairs. Stopping at the bottom, she spoke three quick words and made a quick gesture with her hand. The light around her wavered momentarily as she faded from sight. Forcing herself to breathe, she started up the stairs.
The door on her immediate left opened easily at her touch. She slipped inside and quietly closed the door behind her. The room was spotless. It almost appeared as if no one had every used this room, or at least hadn't done so in a long while. However, the smallish form of a young man lying on the bed said otherwise. He was dressed in jean cut-offs and a light gray T-shirt. His blonde hair was spiked. Or more accurately had been spiked before he had fallen asleep.
"Lance Bass," Nydia murmured to herself as she pulled a bracelet from the folds of her robe. Five sapphires adorn the otherwise plain silver surface. "How long I have waited to meet you. You're so important to us." She slipped the bracelet around her wrist and gazed down at the sleeping youth. "I can only hope you will be willing to aid us."
Calling on years of study, Nydia began working her spell. She purposely kept her voice low and her gestures small. Five minutes after she began one of the sapphires flashed brightly. At the same time a blue dot of light flashed in the middle of Lance's forehead. It brightened until it became blinding before it faded completely away.
"Only four more to gather," Nydia whispered. "This is our last hope brother. I hope it will work."
"YOU FOOL!!!" Nydia raged at Justin. The boy lay crumpled in a heap at the woman's feet. "Do you have any idea what you've done? You nearly killed us as well as your friends." She grabbed the blonde youth by his arm and threw him fifty feet. "Your interference almost destroyed the spell. I have no idea where you friends are. Or if they're even alive."
Justin pulled himself to his feet. He had no idea who this woman was. He had come out of his bathroom and was getting ready for bed when she had appeared. He had demanded to know who she was, but she hadn't answered him. Instead she'd begun chanting and waving her arms around. The air around him had started shimmered and buckled. When the world had righted itself he was in a desert with this woman raging over him.
"Who are you?" He asked again.
"SIT!!!" Was all she responded. An instant later a blast of wind slammed into Justin. He flew backward and landed on his back. "You have no idea what is at stake here, do you?" She shook her head when he didn't answer. "I didn't think so. You and your friends are so important to us. You have to help us."
He decided to stay on the ground rather then chance being knocked down again. He pulled himself into a kneeling position. "I don't know what you're talking about. Who are you?"
Nydia smiled. "My name is Nydia. I need you're help. You have to help us."
Justin shook his head to clear it. "Nydia, if you wanted my help why didn't you ask for it? Instead you kidnap me and bring me here. I don't think I'm going to help you." His voice didn't betray the fear that he felt because of this woman. Granted she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but she was also very dangerous. "Take me home."
She did something unexpected. She laughed. "You foolish boy," she said between gasps. "You have no choice in the matter. You have to come with me."
"I believe the young man said he wanted to go home." Justin turned to see who the new comer was. It was an impressive looking man. He stood well over six feet tall and had a swimmer's build that would have made any athlete turn green. The man's dark red hair fell to his shoulders and framed a handsome face. "Why don't you humor him and take him there?"
Nydia whirled to face the man. "Stay out of this mortal. This is none of your concern."
The man laughed. "I'm not mortal, and I've no intentions of staying out of this." He nodded to Justin. "You don't seem to have this boy's best interests at heart. I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to leave."
"You had your warning," Nydia spat at the man. A bolt of lightning snaked down from the sky and struck the man. "Now be gone from my sight."
"Why don't you leave my sight?" The man remained completely untouched by the lightning. The ground around him sizzled with the heat, but he appeared unharmed. "My patience does have its limits."
"I must have Justin," Nydia said as she flung a fireball at the man. "You will not take him from me."
The man batted the ball aside. "I'm afraid I'm going to. You've harmed the boy enough. He needn't be punished any more by you. Now please leave before I become angry."
Justin scrambled away from the two of them. He didn't want to be caught in the crossfire and he might be able to escape while they weren't looking. Once he moved to a safer distance he hugged his knees to his chest and watched the battle before him. Both of them were doing things that weren't possible. Nydia was constantly calling down lightning or throwing fireballs and the man was simply taking the damage without any apparent harm. He'd knock fireballs aside and not bother avoiding the lightning
"ENOUGH!" the man cried. "I'm growing angry. Leave now." Justin watched in awe as the man attacked. He flung multiple shards of ice toward Nydia, who was suddenly on the defensive. Without pause he hurled a ball of fire at her. He continued chanting while Nydia dodged the fireball. "This is your last warning. LEAVE!"
Nydia sneered and literally flew toward the man. She slammed into him at incredible speed, knocking them both backward. "You will die here. We need Justin, and I will have him."
The man slipped his legs under her and shoved her upward. Nydia hung suspended in the air while he rolled to his feet. A sharp gesture of the man's hand sent Nydia flying into the ground. As she got to her feet four images of the man surrounded her. Each moved as the others did. It was impossible to tell the original apart from the copies.
"Very well." Nydia brushed sand from her robes. "You may have Justin. But do not think I will not have him. He is far more important to me then you will ever know." She flew upward and hovered a few feet above the ground. "And do not forget that I will kill you." She spun quickly and vanished.
The images flickered and disappeared. The remaining man shook his head and looked over to where Justin was sitting. "I take it you're Justin. My name is Pyre."
"Yes, I'm Justin." He didn't know why, but Justin trusted this man. He knew that he was as dangerous as Nydia was, if not more so, but he seemed trustworthy. "Why did you help me?"
Pyre smiled. "Call it a hunch Justin, but I had a feeling that that woman didn't have your best interests at heart." He walked over to Justin and helped the blonde to his feet. He gazed quickly over Justin. "I take it you're not from around here."
Blushing, Justin nodded. "How did you know?"
"Most people don't go traversing the desert in their undergarments during the day." Pyre snickered and motioned toward an outcropping of rocks. "My camp is over there. I should have something you can wear there."
"We have run into some problems brother," Nydia's image said.
A flicker of annoyance crossed Karr's face. "What has happened Nydia?"
"The spell didn't go according to plan. Justin interrupted me before I could finish with him. He had shrugged off the sleep the others were under. The spell only works on sleeping individuals. I managed to pull all of them through the rift with myself, but I don't know where any of the others are."
Karr sighed deeply. "You know we have a great deal of enemies that are trying to stop us. This is going to attract some unwanted attention to us. We'll have to keep quiet for a while." He closed his eyes in thought. "Do you know where Justin is?"
"He's in the area of Mexico, or at least that's where he was last."
Karr's eyes flew open. "MEXICO? Keep an eye on him. I don't like the idea of him in a land ruled by the undead."
Nydia shook her head. "He'll be fine. Some man showed up and has for some reason decided to protect the boy. He fought me to a standstill. I'm not sure if I could best him alone. Justin will be fine as long as he remains with this man." A smile touched her lips. "And if he does decided to leave this man's protection I'll step in and bring him here."
"Good. I'll see what I can do to located the other four. Keep an eye on Justin. I'll inform you when I find where they are."
"Perhaps we should inform Damek of our situation. He is after all one of our kind."
"True. He could help us a great deal."
"Farewell brother, I'll talk to you tomorrow at this time."
"Take care Nydia."
The sound of birds woke Lance. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up. He wasn't on his bed in Justin's house. He was sitting on a patch of the greenest moss he had ever seen in the center of a clearing. Giant oak trees formed the outer ring of the clearing. He could see various birds chirping and hopping along the lower branches of a few of the trees.
"Wow. I've never had a dream so vivid before," Lance said as he pulled himself to his feet. He looked around a while longer and the thought of this being a fairy-tale struck him. "I wonder if my ultimate love will show up to rescue me," he said laughing to himself.
A slight rustling noise from behind him caught his attention. He turned to see a woman emerge from the dense foliage beyond the clearing. She was dressed in a simple white gown the matched the colour of her skin exactly. Her short brown hair fell just short of her shoulders. Lance just stared at her face, he hadn't seen anyone with the quality in this woman's face. It was indescribable. His gaze flickered down her body to take all over her in. He gasped as he stumbled backward. He'd never seen the look on a person's face before, because he'd never seen a person walking that was dead.
The broken shaft of an arrow penetrated the woman's abdomen. A large red circle stained the cloth around the wound. Lance would have noticed it first but he had been caught by the woman's face. Breathing heavily he backed away from the woman who was moving slowly toward him. Now that he saw her moving he knew she couldn't be alive. She stumbled like the zombies moved in those bad horror flicks.
The corpse stopped as a voice filled the clearing. "Please explain your intrusion into my domain." Lance spun around to see who had spoken. It was a man that could only be described as beautiful. He stood well over six feet tall and was dressed in a black robe. Long black hair blended so perfectly with the robe that Lance couldn't tell how long it was. The skin of his exposed hands and face was pale as ice. The contrast of his skin and robe made the man's green eyes seem more penetrating. A bone white scythe was held in his left hand. "Well?"
"I...I..." Lance stammered out as he caught a glimpse of more corpses stumbling behind the man. He turned and fled into the clearing. He darted around the woman and raced into the forest. Deep down he knew this was a bad idea. He had no idea where he was going. No way of knowing if he was getting into a worse situation by fleeing. "Lance," he said to himself. "This is only a dream. You'll be fine." Somehow that wasn't comforting to him.
Lance heard the foliage being forced apart. Apparently the man was giving chase. "STOP!" The man cried and then said something else that Lance couldn't make out. It didn't matter. He just had to out distance the man. He was pretty sure he could do that.
Something grabbed his ankle and he fell forward. Without looking behind him he kicked at whatever was holding his ankle and heard a snap. His ankle was free, but something else had latched onto his leg. Knowing he wouldn't liked what he saw, Lance looked and then screamed. A skeletal hand grasped his leg firmly. Another one popped up beside the first one and grabbed on. Within moments more hands appeared and kept him pined to the ground. He screamed and started thrashing. Terror had completely taken over his mind.
A hand grabbed his wrist and tried to pin it to the forest floor. He rolled sharply to the side to free his wrist and heard the sound of breaking bone. A flicker of hope flashed through his mind until the pain hit him. It had been his bone that broke, not the hand's. More and more hands attached themselves to him until he couldn't move anymore. Terror and pain washed over him repeatedly. Awareness soon fled.
A sharp blast of cold wind woke Chris. He jumped up trying to figure out where it had come from and tripped over something. He landed face first in a snow bank. Try as he might, Chris just couldn't figure out why there was snow in his bedroom in Orlando in June. Another blast of cold air brought Chris back to the present and a groan from his feet caught his attention.
"Chris?"
"Joey?" Chris helped his friend to his feet. "Where are we man?"
Joey was briskly rubbing his bare arms trying to ward off the cold. "I don't know, but this is freaky. Where'd this blizzard come from? And how'd we get into the middle of a forest?"
"Come on," Chris grabbed onto his friend's shoulder and head into the trees. "We've got to find some shelter, we won't last long out here."
The forest itself was dense enough that it provided reasonable protection against the winds of the blizzard, but it did nothing to protect them from the cold. Because the trees blocked the wind, the snow didn't have anything to move it. Large drifts were piling up in their path.
"Joey? Do you have any idea where you're going?"
"No, but we have to keep moving." Joey began to swear.
"JOSEPH! I don't want to hear another word of that filth leave you mouth. Do you understand me?" Both Chris and Joey jumped at the sound of a stern female voice. Looking around they quickly noticed a cloaked figure walking toward them. "Boys your age shouldn't use those words, and I personally don't want to hear them."
Joey blushed and bowed his head. "Sorry."
"We'll discuss this later. In the mean time we have to get you out of this blizzard." She pulled two heavy fur cloaks from her own and offered one to each of them. "Follow me and don't stray to far behind. I don't wish to have to find you two again. My home is this way." She turned and headed off the direction she had come from with Chris and Joey close behind.
The woman led them through the forest for about ten minutes until they came upon a log cabin nestled amongst the trees. Chris had to chuckle; it looked exactly like the stero-typical cartoon log cabin. It was a single story, rectangular structure with smoke pouring out of the chimney. She held the door open and gestured for them to enter. The inside could only be described as cozy. All the furniture was handmade of wood. The various quilts and other coverings also appeared handmade. A soup of some sort was cooking over a cracking fire in the hearth.
"You can hang your cloaks on the hook near the fire." The woman removed her cloak and hung it next to the fire by Joey and Chris's cloaks. She was dressed in a functional white dress and her black hair was pulled back into a bun. She seemed to favour practical over style. Chris couldn't guess her age. He guessed at around fifty because of the gray streaking her hair, but her face showed few signs of age. "The soup will be read in about an hour. Which will give you a short period of time to learn about myself." She sat down at the table and motioned for them to do the same.
"How do you know our..." Joey began
"I've many talents Joseph," a twinkle of amusement flashed through the woman's brown eyes. "Evelyn."
"Huh?" Chris asked.
"That's my name Christopher. That is what you were going to ask, wasn't it?"
"How did you know that?" Chris asked.
Evelyn laughed. "Perhaps I should do a touch of explaining. I'm a psychic Christopher."
"Whoa. You mean like reading the future and all?"
"There's more to it then that. But that is part of it." Evelyn paused a moment and looked at a glass on the counter. It came floating across the room and set itself down in front of Joey. "I can do a great deal with my mind. Reading the future is difficult but can be done. Though it's usually vague. I'm actually just lightly reading your thoughts. It's a bad habit I picked up, I'll stop if you want me too."
"I'd appreciate that Evelyn," Chris said. "But why are you doing this? Helping us I mean."
"Several reasons. The simplest being I won't let any innocent person, human or otherwise, die in this land if I can do anything to prevent it." She paused a moment and a jug filled with water and two more glasses set themselves on the table. She poured them each a glass. "The second reason I'm helping you is because you're important somehow. I had a vision about you two some time back. I don't know why, but you're important to some very powerful people." She took a small drink of her water before continuing. "Another reason is that you are sorely unprepared to survive in this world. Even in these relatively safe woods, you wouldn't survive a day."
Joey moved his glass around in front of him while he thought. "Where exactly are we Evelyn?"
"This area really doesn't have a name, but I believe the Ancients called it Canada. Though I think they were referring to much more land then just this forest."
Chris choked on his water. "We're in Canada?"
"Please don't interrupt Christopher," Evelyn chastised quietly. "I once heard someone refer to this area as Ontario, but I might be mistaken. It's been a very long time."
"Ontario?" Joey looked up with hope. "Maybe we can get to Toronto and figure out how to get home."
"Toronto?" Evelyn asked.
"Yeah, you know. The city. How far is it from here?"
"Joseph I'm afraid this is the only building for miles. I'm not sure if the ruins of any Ancient's cities are even with a months travel of here."
"Ruins?" Chris asked with some alarm in his voice.
"Oh dear. I have more explaining to do then I thought." Evelyn got up and went to stir the soup. When she sat down she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "I'll try to keep this short and simple. I don't know a whole lot about the time of the Ancients or the destruction, but I'll try.
"Several hundred years ago science was the dominant power in this world. The Ancients built their society and made a lot of advancements to make their lives better. For whatever reason a war broke out and millions of people were killed with in moments of each other. All of their psychic energy collected to areas of magic, Ley lines, nexuses, etc.. So much energy was released that the lines became active again and rifts began opening. All sorts of things came through, not all of them were nice." Chris opened his mouth to ask a question but Evelyn help up her hand to stop him. "Let me finish first.
"Society fell apart in the chaos and civilization fell. Most of the major cities were destroyed and the Ancients were forced to start again where their ancestors had. I'm not sure about too much else. People were to busy trying to survive to keep a record of what happened during those years, and most wish to forget it anyway. I don't blame them. What has happened has happened, and nothing will change that."