Although most parts of this multi-session scenario were played out with the other gamers, quite a bit was written as lead-in or follow-up to what took place on the gaming board. Unless otherwise noted, game play is in italics while lead-in or follow-up is in normal text.

Into the Future

Background/Setting: It is the year 2043. Two K’Dan and one Lords of Creation invasions have devastated the planet. Most of the Earth’s population has been wiped out. Very few Millennials survived. The Principle, a.k.a. Terri Hollingsworth, a.k.a. Lavender, was viewed as the most powerful surviving Millennial. Leading the reconstruction efforts, she sought to bring the human race back from the brink of oblivion. However, her plans suffered a setback when Breeze, a.k.a. Maggie Jensen, wrested power and placed the Principle into stasis. Roughly a year after seizing power, Breeze became aware of the Time Project. The Time Project was an experimental facility which could send people back in time. From what Breeze knew of the Principle’s past, if she could kill both Charles Drake, a.k.a. Green Dragon, and Lavender then the Principle would not be a factor in the reconstruction efforts. This would leave Breeze as the de-facto ruler of the world and, with her hands on the Time Project, she would be unstoppable. She sent three of her agents back to the year 2003. They were to first eliminate Charles Drake and then Lavender. Fortunately, this plan ran into a couple of snags – The counter agents the Principle sent back before Breeze seized power and The Southern Knights.

May 10, 2003 approximately 1:30pm

Samade (Eshu) was walking along an I-beam, four stories up when he caught the mental signature of a life-or-death fight between two beings. A few moments later, the whistle sounded for a 15 minute break. As he looked in the direction of the mental energy he saw someone throw a person off the roof of another four story building not far away.

As he hastily made is way to the scene of the crime, Samade changed clothes and became Eshu. Arriving on the scene, he saw a dark haired man standing over the broken and quite twisted remains of a dead man.. The dark haired man was searching the body for something.

Eshu told the man to stop and then stand away from the body. The man refused. Eshu decided to persuade the man with a quick bolt of mental energy. The man froze in place. Eshu repeated his command. Silence was his reply.

Moments later, the man unfroze and said, "You are Omo Eshu. This is none of your business. I have no quarrel with you. Leave now."

"The moment you tossed that man over the side of the building it became my business", retored Eshu as he launched another mental attack at the man. The attack hit and once again the man froze in place. Eshu readied another mental attack but, to his surprise, there was no longer a mind to attack.

The man unfroze again a moment later and said, "You should know, that I am setting in motion processes which will render your attacks ineffective against me." The man raised his arm, his hand detached, and headed straight towards Eshu. Eshu dodged and the hand clattered into a storm drain. The man seemed to be acting more quickly than he had before.

The battle between the two ended up as a physical match up as the man had somehow learned to evade Eshu's mental attacks. Several blows were struck by both combatants against each other. During this time, Eshu called in for support from the other Knights. Jared Rollins answered the call and was on his way. Eshu was able to determine that the man was on some kind of mission but the man would not elaborate.

Just as Eshu was zigging instead of zagging and ending up entangled, Jared showed up on the scene. Words were exchanged but the man refused to step away from the body and surrender. Jared scanned the man and the man seemed to be aware of this.

"You are Jared Rollins," he said. "This is none of your business. I have no quarrel with you. Leave now and you will not be hurt".

"Not a chance!" yelled Jared as he fired off his stun-only attack. The man froze in place again. Eshu was almost out of his entangle.

The man unfroze. "You should know, that I am setting in motion processes which will render your attacks ineffective against me." Jared's reply was along the lines of "Yeah, whatever" as he knocked the machine part of the man out of commission. Eshu, with a bolt of mental energy, finished off the organic part and the battle ended.

Battle aftermath.

One of the characters moved the dead body's hand to confirm there was no pulse. An arrow on the watch the dead man was wearing moved slightly and in the wrong direction. They determined the arrow was pointing to the Atlanta Zoo. Rollins was able to determine the watch sensed millennial energy but was so finely tuned it could detect individual signatures. They suspected it was attuned to Green Dragon. Status of the watch: In Jared's lab.

The man Eshu and Jared were fighting was synthetic. The body was composed of carbon nanotubules which made it very light and very tough. Intermixed with the body were machine components. Some machine components were weapons related such as the entangle. Other components were unidentifiable. The central machine core was mostly trashed via some sort of self-destruct mechanism but just enough of it survived to conclude that it was based on a level of technology not previously seen. Jared was able to identify some elements of subatomic processing. The kicker, though, was a deeply hidden nanostamp which stated, "FutureCorp, Inc. 2036".

The dead man could not be identified. 48 hours after the battle, the morgue cameras showed two men in white lab coats remove the body to a janitor's supply closet. A search of the complex turned up neither the body nor the men in white lab coats.

May 10, 2003 approximately 1:30pm

"I can't believe I'm doing this", Terri said to herself as she chewed nervously on her fingernails. "I mean, they're the one's supposed to come chasing after me, right?"

She walked a little further down the hallway into the complex. "I shouldn't be here! Someone will see me! HE might see me! Wait a minute, that's what I want, right? No, can't do this like this. Not like this" she said as she turned around and walked several steps back.

It was tearing her apart. She'd left hints here and there that she was interested and she cared. How could he miss them? Didn't he know? Maybe she didn't try hard enough. And now it was almost a year later and he was still as oblivious as ever. "I have to do something!", she turned around and paced back to where she was. "He might have a girlfriend" she thought. Pacing back and forth, she became even more frantic, unable to go forward, unable to leave.

A door down the hall opened. HE stepped out. A lump formed in her throat. She felt weak. He walked towards her. "Can I help you, miss?" he said.

"I...I..." she stammered. "TELL HIM!" she screamed to herself in her mind. "I came to...to...."

"Oh, yes", he sighed and nodded. "You took a wrong turn. Go out that door and to your right and you'll find the ladies room."

"O...Ok. Thanks!" she blurted out as she dashed down the hall and through the doors. Green Dragon sighed. "No matter how many good deeds you do, you're still a green scaly monster". Dejectedly, he went about his duties at the Zoo.

(This section written by Mike)

Green Dragon sighed. "No matter how many good deeds you do, you're still a green scaly monster". Dejectedly, he went about his duties at the Zoo.

Just then, he caught a faint scent that cut through the normal vitamin, alcohol and sanitizer smell that seemed to permeate every room of the building. He'd smelled it before ... what was it ... no, *who* was it ... Lavender?! His head snapped back around to see the doors closing as the girl hurriedly left the room.

He set his pen and clipboard down on a stool and walked out the door. He looked both ways down the hedge-enclosed walkway, and just caught sight of her rounding the corner to the left.

"But she's out of costume," he thought to himself. "What could she have wanted? Well, if she wanted to be recognized, she would have said something." He began to return to the lab, but then stopped.

"But she obviously knows who *I* am. She couldn't have found me here by accident. She's got to have something on her mind." The thoughts started racing through his head. "Maybe she really didn't know? Maybe she's in trouble? Maybe ... Oh hell ... I'd better find out."

She was heading down the path toward the Reptile House. It was a winding path ... Perhaps he could head her off. Dragon took a step back, then deftly leaped over the 8' shrub, somersaulted over an air conditioning unit and rolled under a water main, and raced down the hillside. He accidentally knocked over a bird's nest in a small tree, stopped abruptly, reached out and caught the nest with his left foot. "Sorry, kids," he said to the eggs, and gently set it back on its branch. He reached the bottom of the hill, looked back and saw Lavender (or whatever her name might be) approaching.

He ducked inside the Reptiles building. It was a quiet day, and since the recent construction, the Reptile House was a little out of the way. Not many visitors present. Dragon sat on a rail facing the gavials and waited.

"Ever wonder what they're thinking about?" he asked out loud, without turning around, as soon as he recognized her scent again. "I mean, they just lay there and stare up at you, and you look into those yellow eyes and just know that they have all sorts of things that they're just not saying. I come here sometimes when it's quiet, wondering if maybe they'll say it to me."

"Ever wonder what they're thinking about?" he asked out loud, without turning around, as soon as he recognized her scent again. "I mean, they just lay there and stare up at you, and you look into those yellow eyes and just know that they have all sorts of things that they're just not saying. I come here sometimes when it's quiet, wondering if maybe they'll say it to me."

Terri stopped. She was torn between wanting to run away or walk toward him. After a moment's indecision, she somehow managed to put one foot in front of the other and walk over to him.

They stood at the railing, close, side by side, looking at the reptiles for a few moments. She was visibly agitated.

Dragon asked, "Anything I can..."

"My name is Terri," she blurted out.

"Terri." he said. "A good name." Dragon became even more concerned.

She looked, there was nobody else around. "You know me," she said matter-of-factly as she took off her sunglasses and faced him. There was no mistaking the lavender colored irises. With each word rising slightly in pitch, Dragon asked, "Um, are you sure?"

"Yes," she said. "And I now know what it takes for you to notice me."

It happened so fast there was no time to react. It was as if she melted to his skin and used some kind of incredible strength to pull his head down to hers. As she passionately kissed him, a lavender glow enveloped them both as she took flight holding onto him. She flew them out of the enclosure and straight up into the sky.

---

The agent looked at his watch. The arrow pointed directly to the lavender glow as it arced into the sky. "Confirm and lock" he said as he raised his arm until his hand pointed straight at the apex of the glow.

The watch beeped and reconfigured. Becoming liquid-like, it flowed up to his hand, covering it with a metallic sheen. "Confirmed. Locked. Command?" it said.

"Fire!"

While in a lip lock with Lavender some 75 feet above the Atlanta Zoo, Green Dragon was hit by an energy blast which stunned Lavender and sent her flying away from him. She recovered but not before he caught her. A man covered in a silvery, metallic substance stood at the edge of a crowd of people, firing energy blasts from his outstretched hand.

About this time, Stutter showed up and, using a martial grab, managed to hold the metal man for a moment until Doc Hollis arrived. Hollis took aim and hit, sending the metal man careening through the air. Stutter, who was knocked loose by Hollis’ blast, was caught by Lavender. Recovering his equilibrium, the metal man resumed his attacks on Green Dragon.

Trading a punch for an energy blast, Green Dragon was knocked to the ground unconscious. Hollis, Lavender and Stutter continued the battle. At one point, the metal man was about to pounce on the unconscious Green Dragon but Hollis stopped him with a force wall. Lavender struck the metal man with her force beams and sent him flying into the trees. Once in the trees, Stutter entangled the metal man for a few moments while Green Dragon recovered consciousness.

Green Dragon stood up and charged, the metal man advanced forward with his arm forward and about to fire, and Lavender yelled "No!" Suddenly the metal man pulled his arm back puzzled. Once again he took aim but found he could not aim or fire at Green Dragon. This affliction didn’t seem to affect his targeting of the others. After a third attempt at attacking Green Dragon the metal man suddenly yelled "Yarg!" At that same moment he was blasted by Hollis, clubbed by Green Dragon, and entangled by Stutter.

As he went unconscious, the metallic sheen flowed into the man’s watch and belt. Green Dragon promptly removed those. The man awoke only to find himself pinned to the ground by Green Dragon. After a few feeble attempts at escape, he became rigid and silent. Questioning him yielded little information besides his name (Steve Smith), rank (Operations), and serial number (TF-889-334-4428).

The heroes did not pursue further questioning. FIDICOP arrived and took the man into custody. The watch and belt will make their way to Rollins. Green Dragon and Lavender agreed to meet at a pub in Druid's Corner after he got off work to talk about their newfound relationship.

"Damn! What is it with this guy?", Green Dragon thought. "I thought once they went unconscious nothing was supposed to happen. And, here I am with this guy in half-nelson flying over the city!"

Using the communicator he kept the others informed as to what area of the city he was over and where he appeared to be headed. While that was happening, he reviewed what happened to put him into this predicament.

After the incident with the mystery agent at the Atlanta Zoo, he and Lavender agreed to meet at the bar at Druid's Corner after work. Just as the small talk was ending and they were about to talk about other matters, up glided Jarrod. Also arriving on the scene were Eshu and Ares. Rollins held up a weird looking watch with a pointer in the dial. The dial pointed at Lavender. Then it began to get weird.

The watch morphed into something snake-like and slithered out of Rollins' hand. Darting towards Lavender, it bumped off her force field and fell to the floor. Seemingly confused, it writhed for a moment and then started slithering towards the door. As it started making it's way to the door, it lashed out with force beams, pushing the other bar patrons aside like toys. Lavender put up a force field in front of the door while the heroes struck at it. While most attacks missed, one attack cut the wormlike watch in two. Energy spouted from both cut ends of the worm, threatening to cause a fire. Jarrod scooped up one end of the worm in a hastily emptied tip jar while Ares corralled the other end of it at the door.

One the other side of the door stood another agent. The silver-clad agent blasted at Lavender's force wall, blasting through it. The blast struck Ares but did little damage. Green Dragon chuckled. "The LAST thing anyone should ever do is make Ares angry." Between Ares and the other heroes, the super agent was knocked unconscious against a wall outside the bar.

"As I recall, the half nelson didn't do much damage. But, it was enough to keep this guy out for a long, LONG time. Some kind of explosion, though, after he went unconscious. Didn't affect me but it sure affected the others. And, the next thing I know I'm in the air holding on. Good thing I can fly!"

The flight slowed and he/they began a steep descent. An abandoned building appeared to be the destination. He relayed this to his team members.

Almost casually, they flew in through an open window and settled gently to the floor. "One more squeeze just to be sure", he said as he flexed his muscles. "There. If he wasn't unconscious then, he's definitely unconscious now." He stood up.

The room he stood in was empty and in disrepair. The only thing unusual was the faint shimmering in front of the window. "Uh oh!" he thought.

The wallpaper designs flowed together and formed things which roughly looked like spiders. He keyed his communicator. "Uh, guys, I could use a little help here..."

---

"Uh, guys, I could use a little help here!" said Green Dragon's voice over the communicator.

"Dragon, hold on, we're on our way!", said Rollins. "I know where he is, come on!"

Meanwhile, the following "conversation" from Green Dragon was heard: "Ooof!", "Yikes", "Ow!", and "Whoa!". Also the following sound effects: "Crash!", "Bump!", "ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzaaaaaaaapppppppp!", and "Thud!" Then, static.

(This part run as a scenario, summary written up by Mike, and cleaned up by me.)

Dragon dreamed that he was lying on the floor while a K'dan warrior battled huge black spiders. The K'dan landed an uppercut on a spider, driving him through the ceiling. When the ceiling began to collapse, Dragon realized that he wasn't dreaming. He leaped through an open window, yelling for the K'dan to follow him. Outside the window, they found that they were six stories up and that the building was actually enclosed in another building so large that they couldn't quite make out its size.

With people on the ground shooting at them, Dragon carried the K'dan up and away, guiding toward a glint of purple metal. While in flight, the K'dan fired back at pursuers, forcing them to keep their distance. They eventually made it to the glint, which was in a small room.

To their surprise, the glint began talking to them, telling them to follow its instructions. Taking much on faith (Who was this K'dan? Were they friends? What is this glinty thing? Is it on our side?), Dragon did obey it. It formed itself into silver bracelets on the wrists of Dragon and the K'dan and spoke to them from there. It guided them away from their pursuers, leading them through passages and vents, and sometimes providing them camouflage coverage. Where they could not hide from the enemy, they battled them head-on, finding them easy targets (though with a bit of a sting). Interrogating one of them (with the impatience of a caged animal), they were told that they were in Atlanta -- though this giant complex didn't resemble anything in Atlanta that they had ever seen before.

Suddenly, a quake shook the entire complex, sending everyone into chaotic confusion. Dragon and the K'dan (who still had not had the opportunity to introduce themselves) continued following the instructions of the silver bracelets, until they found themselves in a "museum". The curator calmly guided them through the museum, explaining much about the world they were in.

In this world, the supreme leader appeared to be Lavender, who, in grief over her lost love, Charles Drake, had helped form this new society from the ashes of three extraterrestrial invasions. Drake, according to the curator, had died. This came as a bit of a surprise to Drake who was clearly not dead yet. When his identity was ascertained, he was greeted by the voice of Lavender, who seemed to be stuck in stasis in the museum.

The curator released Lavender from the stasis. She explained a little more about the world. Apparently, this was an alternate (from Dragon's point of view) universe, in which Charles Drake never went back into the reflex chambers to re-become Green Dragon and Maggidos was defeated before being able to return to Atlanta. The K'dan, without the interference of Maggidos, were able to decimate our civilization, and during the war, almost all millennials perished. (You might guess as to Lavender's reaction to seeing a K'dan in the room at this point.) The most powerful surviving millennial -- Lavender -- was now in charge.

Just then, the roof was blown in, and a female voice from above challenged Lavender. The air around her was sucked away, and she began to choke. She reached upward to "Maggie" with lavender light and squished her into a tiny ball. This seemed to end the skirmish for now. Further story revealed that somehow Breeze had survived the war as well, and had successfully staged a coup, keeping Lavender in stasis while she ran the world.

When last we left our intrepid heroes, they were about to check out the abandoned building Green Dragon had disappeared into.

Using his IR vision, Jared saw the faint outline of a heat trail going into a 6th story, broken out window. Stutter ran up the side of the building and in through this window. Just as he reached a hallway entrance he was attacked by several dozen spider-like creatures. After shucking and jiving, he was entangled and the creatures started moving in closer, forming a sphere around him.

Lavender flew in through the window and blasted a few of the creatures. She was rewarded by being blasted out of the building. Eshu ran up the fire escape while Ares levitated to the 6th floor carrying Jared with him. Within a few moments, all heroes were in the building and Stutter was freed from the clutches of the creatures.

Suddenly (dum dum daaaaaa), the world seemed to shift and the building creaked and groaned. Stutter ran to the opening where the window used to be (it was blasted out by Lavender). Instead of seeing the skyline of Atlanta, Stutter saw the inside of a gigantic and dark room. In the distance were three, circular bright areas. One was green, one was gray, and the last one contained a building. The heroes weren't alone either. Some fifty or so people were on the ground floor. Most were technicians but some ten or so armed themselves and began firing at Stutter. Also, five silvery agents like the one the heroes fought at the Zoo and Druids Corners started taking flight.

Jared surmised that what happened to them may have also happened to Green Dragon. Using his communicator, he was able to establish contact with Green Dragon. Dragon said that he and a K'Dan warrior named Zattaro were able to escape by looking for a purple beacon and "heading west" out of the building. Stutter, hearing this part of the conversation, ran down the side of the building and "west". One of the silvery agents followed Stutter while the other four took up position just outside the window and issued a command, "Halt! You will not move!"

Just then, the entire area was shaken by what appeared to be an earthquake. As the building began to crumble around them, the heroes leapt out of the building and into the air.

Leaping out of the collapsing building, Eshu and Rollins were kept airborne by Ares while Lavender flew out under her own power. The silvery super agents who had moments before ordered the heroes to halt now flew backwards several feet to avoid the building’s collapse. A massive dust cloud filled the area.

Out of the dust cloud flew the heroes. Lavender traded energy blasts with one of the super agents (both missed). Ares was fired upon and hit by one of the super agents. Flying backwards (and still holding onto Eshu and Rollins), Ares hit the ground with a mighty "thud". Rollins fired through the dust cloud and hit one of the super agents, knocking him out of the air. Lavender entangled him. The heroes traded punches and energy blasts but, ultimately, the heroes came out on top.

Meanwhile, Stutter began searching for Green Dragon. It should be noted that the heroes leapt out of a building which was inside an even larger building. This building was part of an even larger complex of buildings and green space. The complex was enclosed in a shimmering dome. Overall, the complex spanned several square miles but with his super speed and movement, Stutter was able to quickly get his bearings and find Green Dragon.

Meanwhile, outside the building but under the dome, the Lavender of the future fought the Breeze of the future - fantastic light show clashed with the mother of all tornadoes. Several super agents took flight and began firing at the Lavender of the future. Green Dragon also took flight and engaged several of the super agents one-on-one. Stutter disabled a wheeled energy cannon and then used his strength and speed to shove it through the dome. As the cannon entered the dome it stopped momentarily and then it was sucked through. The technician at the firing station cried out in terror as he went through the dome with the cannon.

Meanwhile, back inside the building, Eshu scanned for Breeze and made mental contact. Breeze, noting Eshu’s presence and his potential as a threat, determined his location inside the largest of the buildings. As Breeze started making her way towards the building, she encountered Green Dragon. Not even pausing, she casually tossed Green Dragon aside like a toy and used her formidable wind powers to rip off a large chunk of the building. As she did that, a plane of light formed above her and smashed her into the ground.

Stutter, who noticed that objects thrown into the force dome stayed where they were for half a second before vanishing, used debris to climb the inside of the force dome to a position right above Breeze. Positioning himself, he began falling. Breeze, who was not aware that Stutter was above her, blasted up and through Lavender’s force plane. Marshalling her vast powers she shouted, "Enough of this! It ends now! Prepare to…" just as Stutter clobbered her from above. She hit the ground with enough force to create a crater. There was no movement. Breeze was very unconscious. The battle was over.

Most of the remaining technicians, agents, and super agents surrendered. A few ran away into areas of the complex. Some were subdued by forces loyal to the Lavender of the future. A very unconscious Breeze was surrounded and placed under heavy guard.

Making her way to the heroes, the future Lavender greeted them and thanked them for their assistance. She said that time was short and that they all must return to the past immediately. She asked that Green Dragon and the Lavender of the past remain a few moments longer while the rest of the heroes were sent back. The heroes agreed and were returned to the past. They found themselves in a field in the Stone Mountain/Lithonia area of the city mere minutes after they left.

For a few minutes, Green Dragon and the Lavender of the future talked. Then, Green Dragon made his way to a time transporter platform and was returned to the past. He found himself in the North Georgia mountains and a few hours ahead of when he left.

By the time the heroes returned to the Citadel, Lavender was there to greet them.

Epilogue, Part I

She watched him walk away and step onto the transporter. Mentally, she gave the word and Green Dragon shimmered from view and was gone. She set the time of return to be five hours before he left. Spatially, he’d be in the north Georgia mountains. It’d give him the time and solitude to think things through, to relax.

If only she could afford the same luxury. Her other self, the Terri Hollingsworth of 2003, was here with her. But, there were other things now screaming for her attention. Terri would just have to wait.

It was the year 2043. All that was left of this timeline was in the force dome and everything inside it. Nothing else existed and, anyone who happened to find themselves on the other side of the dome would also cease to exist. The chronal machinery would sustain the dome for a while but not even her Chief Technology Officer could say for how long. She ran a calculation anyway and the results were not encouraging. There would barely be enough time to do what needed to be done.

Her appearance shimmered and she was now dressed in a smart and sharp looking business suit. No dust marred her face and her hair was perfectly in place. A beam of light appeared from out of nowhere and shined on her. She spoke, “Attention all personnel. This is the Principle speaking.” She paused a few moments for that to sink in. With the defeat of Breeze, most would contract over to her side but a few would hold out. “Breeze has been defeated. There is no more profit in fighting. Amnesty is granted to those who contract over now.”

A display shimmered into view in front of her. The numbers rapidly counted down from 127 to 9. “Those who have contracted over may now use the escape routes immediately.” After a short pause she added, “Again, amnesty is granted. I know I don’t need to remind you that once the force dome collapses, everything here will cease to exist.” The display numbers immediately went to zero. “Thank you for your service and, good luck.”

The beam of light went out and she turned her attention to the Terri Hollingsworth of 2003. “In approximately 2 minutes, you, I and Breeze will be the only people left here. Don’t worry, Breeze is in stasis and the force dome will last a while longer. But, I suspect you have many questions,” she said with a wry smile, “ask them.”

“T-The Principle?”, Terri asked.

“Yes, child. That is the name I chose during the reconstruction.”

“What happened?”

The Principle laughed. “Before answering that, there are some things you must know. First of all, your reality is different than mine. Second, you will return home safely. And third, you will go on to live a different life with different experiences than my own. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Good. That is important. You must also understand that even though we are different and are built on different experiences, there are some commonalities. For that reason, and others, I cannot be as specific as you’d like me to be. Do you understand?” Terri nodded.

The Principle held out her hands and between them appeared something like a holographic display but with incredible detail and sound. As she spoke, images filled the screen, punctuating her words.

“We barely survived the K’Dan. The only thing which turned them away was the defeat of their leader, Zor, by Peter Hollis. Hollis ordered the K’Dan to leave the solar system and not come back unless called upon. A few years later, the Lords of Creation showed up. So, we called upon the K’Dan to help us drive off the Lords and we succeeded…just barely. However, it was a deal with the devil. Before we could regroup, the K’Dan were upon us again. Before they could take it all and snuff out the human race, they mysteriously left. Over four billion human beings perished.”

Terri swallowed. “F-Four billion?!”

“Yes,” said the Principle, “Four billion.”

“I think…”

“Yes, child?”

“I think…I’m going to…going to be sick!”

“You go right ahead, child,” the Principle said as she turned away while Terri fell to the ground, puking her guts out.

The Principle waited the several minutes that it took for Terri to purge, calm down, and recompose herself. Then she walked over and placed a hand on Terri’s shoulder. “Stand up”.

In a sobbing voice, Terri asked, “Why?! What’s the use in going back?! I mean, if the Lords are going to show up in my time, what’s the use?! Four billion people??!!”

“Stand up,” said the Principle firmly. “Stand up, now. Now!” With the Principle half pulling her, Terri stood up.

“Look at me, Terri. Look at me! Now!! I was a key player in the K’Dan and Lord’s defeat! Without me being there during both invasions and the reconstructions afterwards, who knows what would have happened! That’s why you have to go back! You are a key player! Regardless of whether things are different or the same, your presence means something!”

The Principle held out her arms and Terri fell into them. For the next few minutes the Principle held her while Terri cried.

“I’m sorry, Principle. It’s just so…so…”

“Overwhelming?” the Principle said.

“Yes”, Terri nodded.

“I understand,” said the Principle.

“What now?” asked Terri.

The Principle smiled. “A few more words of wisdom and then I’m going to show you what your powers make you capable of. Then, it’ll be time for you to go home.”

“Ok”, said Terri as she wiped her face. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

And, with that, the Principle laughed. “Great! Let’s begin.”

Epilogue, Part II

Silence. Unbelievable, nearly unbearable silence. For several minutes she stood in the mostly dark gigantic room, her thoughts a million miles away.

It was good being with her earlier self. To think she was once that young and innocent brought back many memories. They talked at length for a while. Then, lending her a tiny fraction of her power, she showed Terri some of the things she would be able to do as her powers further developed. She even showed her a trick she could do right now. With a little practice and patience she had no doubt Terri would get the hang of it. It was too bad she had to be sent back so soon. So much remained untold.

An alert caught her attention. The AI needed more power to maintain the chronal field. “I need a list of systems”, she said. In her mind’s eye the list appeared. Checking off the choices, she nodded and the list disappeared. A few moments later, the lights slowly dimmed and then went out. She was now in total darkness.

“It won’t be long now”, she thought. All power was being diverted to the chronal field. This included the power holding Maggie (a.k.a. Breeze) in stasis.

As if on queue, the air started to move. Softly at first and then with increasing force it swirled around her. “I can feel you breathing, wench”, said Maggie as she flew into the room. “You think the darkness will hide you, but you’re wrong! I know where you are. Your pitiful followers with their little toys cannot save you now! We ARE alone! Today I reign supreme!”

“Hello Maggie,” Terri replied. “Let’s light things up a bit”, she said as she stood and started glowing with a dazzling brilliance, lighting up the entire room.

Maggie’s eyes narrowed both from the light and with suspicion. “Impressive, bitch. But, it won’t save you.” Ominously, she added, “And, I told you to never call me by that name!”

Terri laughed. Mockingly, she added, “Oh, yes, almighty Breeze! Ruler of the world! I’m so sorry, Maggie, but your rule has ended.”

Maggie growled, “Kneel! Pledge your undying loyalty to me and I may yet spare your life!”

“No, Maggie. I will never, ever kneel to you.”

Maggie pointed and a bolt of lightning lanced out from her and struck Terri. Knocked over by the attack and groaning from the pain, Terri stood and counterattacked. Maggie screamed as the area in and around her turned into white hot incandescence.

Attack, counterattack, regroup, retaliate. They fought for hours, neither one gaining a decided advantage over the other. Eventually, battered, bruised, and powers exhausted it came down to a wrestling match. In between the punches, throws, kicks, and gasping for breath they talked.

“You will never defeat me, Terri. Eventually, my minions will break through the force dome and it will all be over. My rule is assured.”

“That ‘force dome’ is not a force dome at all, Maggie. It’s a chronal dome. Everything has gone according to plan. You were maneuvered into this.”

“Nonsense. It was I who maneuvered you. I planned and executed the take over of your rule. It came off without a hitch. You lost and soon you will lose forever!”

Terri laughed. “You’re so predictable. That’s the one thing I can always count on.”

“What?”

“I let you take over, Maggie. I had to distract you. Otherwise, you’d have undone everything. I knew you’d be so engrossed in your rule that you’d forget about the Time Project until it was too late. The chronal dome protects all that is left of our time line, our reality.”

Stunned by a sudden revelation, Maggie hesitated for a moment. “You destroyed our time line???!!!”

“Yes!” yelled Terri as she punched Maggie, knocking her down.

Maggie worked her way into a partially sitting position. Wiping the blood away from her mouth she smiled wickedly. “You’re more diabolical than I thought. I didn’t know you had it in you.” Looking around she said, “So, this is it, huh?”

“Yes. I couldn’t let you rule. It was either sacrifice this time line or you would have been unstoppable in any time line. And, to be honest, I didn’t have to manipulate time. All I did was allow it to happen.”

Maggie laughed. “That’s even worse! By allowing this to happen, you’re even worse than diabolical! You’ve just proven yourself my equal! Nobody has ever done that. Tell me, how does it feel?”

Terri slumped and sat down. “Terrible.”

They sat, each wrapped up in their own thoughts for a moment. Terri broke the silence. “The chronal dome will collapse soon. Do you want me to count down the seconds?”

Maggie sighed. “No, it’s better not knowing. Terri?”

“Yes?”

“How do we get out of this?”

“We don’t.”

“What do you mean, ‘We don’t?’ Surely you, ‘Miss, I’ve always got a contingency plan’, have a contingency plan!?”

“Nope. Not this time. There’s no way out of this.”

“No way out?! No! I refuse to accept that! There has to…be…..something?”, Maggie said as her voice trailed off. Frantically, she looked around. “Terri? The lights are on. They’ve been on for a while. Did you turn them on?”

Terri looked around and her eyes widened. “No, I didn't!” Mentally, she contacted the AI. “Neither did the AI! In fact, it says that the lights are off! This is not a symptom of what happens! Something else is going on!” They both stood up.

The ground shook as the chronal dome collapsed. Like ripples in a pond after a stone was thrown in but in reverse motion, they watched as the waves approached from all sides. Everything the waves touched disappeared.

They clung to each other, eyes closed, as the waves reached them. Then, an instant before oblivion, everything stopped.

Maggie opened her eyes, “We’re still alive?! What’s going on?!”

“I don’t know,” Terri said as she opened her eyes and looked around. “But I have the feeling we’re about to find out!”

To be continued?