I've returned with another installment. This one took me a little longer, but we're all adults here, or rather we're suppose to be, so we'll all recover. It just took me a bit to figure out where I wanted to send a few scenes. Once I got that down, it was smooth sailing.
Okay, let's see. I have to thank Kenitra, LHW, Aeoros, Kief, Aphrodite, Tom, and Matt. I know I'm forgetting someone in that list..oh well it'll come to me. Most likely after I hit the send button later. Anyway, thanks to everyone who e-mailed me. You guys are great. I love hearing from you and what you think about the story. As for stories to read, I must suggest Brian and Me. I'm finally getting close to the end of what's been written. It's a long haul, but trust me, it's worth it. It's wonderfully written and the characters are very interesting. And so's the plot. I also have to recommend Nsync and the Vamps, BSB and Nsync Chronicles, Forever (finished but still good), Millennium love, and for those of you haven't read it yet, Lance In Shining Armour (it's finished as well, and has been for a while. Scotty T wrote it, and I loved it.) There are a lot of good stories out there, let me know if you find any other really good ones.
And now we have the disclaimer. First off this story isn't suppose to imply anything about the members of Nsync. This story is fictional and I made it all up, if any of them are gay, it's not my business. If you're too young to read this, then don't. If it's illegal in your area to read this, then don't (though I'd suggest moving to a better area). If homosexual themes offend you, then you are in the wrong place. Parts of this story are loosely based of the RPG Rifts. All trademarks belong to Kevin Siembieda and Palladium books.
Remember e-mails are always welcome. Mist_dark@hotmail.com (I figure if I keep mentioning this you'll do it. Grins I'm addicted to e-mail what can I say?) Anyway, enjoy the story.
Rune
PART ELEVEN
The book in Lance's hands was huge, and was far lighter then it should have been. For it's size the book should have easily weighed close to fifty pounds, but its weight was barely noticeable. The entire front, spine and back were covered in runes. The pages of the book were filled with various images. Some were runic circles, others were of mystic creatures, or just landscapes. The one thing all the pictures had in common was their vividness. Each was in full colour and looked like you could step right into the page.
"Why'd you get this?" Lance asked as he flipped through the pages. "I'm not upset or anything, but why'd you get this for me?"
"I saw it at the market," Selvar said. "And it reminded me of you, so I bought it. Do you like it?"
"It's beautiful," Lance said truthfully. "What type of book is it?"
"A rune book."
Startled Lance dropped the book. It hit the floor with a loud bang. He looked around the study looking for who had just spoken. "Did you say that?" He asked Selvar.
A faint smile crossed Selvar's lips. "No."
"I did." The book floated up off the floor and hovered in front of Lance. "And personally, the best way to be introduced to someone is not to drop them."
Lance looked at the book floating in front of him and then at Selvar. Then back at the book. "I've been here a while now. I've come to accept that dragons, elves, and vampires exist. That drawing symbols on a wall can make magic. That the dead truly do walk and that magic in general exists. But," he said looking directly at Selvar. "You could have mentioned that books can talk."
"Not all books," the book said. "Just some really special ones. Like me. I'm special."
Selvar laughed. "I'm sorry Lance. I didn't think to mention. It's really not one of those things you jus blurt out during dinner. `This is really good soup. By the way, books can talk. Would you pass the salt?'"
"Point taken," Lance grumbled. "It still would have been nice to know."
"Probably," the book said. "But there's no point in whining about the past. Let's move onto the future. It's far more interesting anyway."
"Yes," Selvar said. "The book really is that way most of the time. It can be serious if it wants to be, but it generally doesn't want to be. Trust me. It was one of the first things I picked up. And it's been talking like that nonstop for the last two days."
"I do have a name you know," the book said. It actually succeeded in making a snorting sound.
"I was speaking with you for two days and you didn't feel the need to tell me your name?" Selvar asked.
"You didn't ask," the book said. "But if you're asking, it's Cro."
"Well it's nice to know you have a name," Selvar said. "You already know my name, and that's Lance."
"I figured out who he was," Cro said. "You certainly described him enough over the last two days." Selvar flushed slightly. "Glad to meet you Lance."
It took a moment for Lance to get his voice back. "Nice to meet you as well Cro."
"Not to be rude Selvar," Cro said. "But I'd like to get to know Lance better. I already know what you told me, but I'd still like to talk to him."
Selvar flushed darker then before. "Of course. I've a few things I have to deal with anyway. You two get to know each other." He quickly ushered Lance and the floating book out of the study.
"He's so much fun," Cro laughed as the door closed behind them. "He's been like that since he picked me off the shelf."
"And you've been tormenting him the entire time too," Lance said. "Haven't you?"
"Yep," Cro said. "And enjoying every minute of it. I don't get out a lot, so I take advantage of the time I do get."
Lance nodded. "Shall we go to the sitting room to talk?"
"Not that sitting would do much for me," Cro chuckled. "But that should be fine."
Laughing Lance led them to the sitting room and took a seat near the window. "You should be interesting company to say the least," he said as Cro floated to a chair across from him. It was odd talking to a book, but Lance was recovering quickly.
"That I plan to be," Cro said. "Though I think there's someone who would be better company. Somebody with a body."
It was Lance's turn to flush. "What do you mean?"
"You're as bad as Selvar," Cro accused him. "You know what I'm talking about. He likes you. A lot."
"We're just friends," Lance said defensively.
"Really?" Cro asked. "And just how many necromancers do you know that would clear their entire castle of their undead minions just because a guest was uncomfortable? Or that would leave their castles undefended with same said guest inside? Or would buy same said guest a book that's worth a king's ransom?"
All Lance could do was gape. Well, that and turn a lovely shade of red. His voice returned to him a moment later. "What are you talking about?"
"Lance. Listen to me very carefully," Cro said. "Selvar. Likes. You. Simple enough?"
"But.."
"No buts," Cro cut him off. "He likes you. In fact I'd say he's head over heels in love with you. I can't think of anything else that would cause him to clear out his minions."
"I asked him to bring them back," Lance said.
"And I bet that he would walk off a cliff if you asked him too," Cro countered. "He'd do anything for Lance. I've seen this before, and trust me the only diagnosis that could ever be made is love."
"You're a mouthy book," Lance told Cro.
"True, but I'm also right. And you know it."
"Did we do the right thing?" Joey asked for the tenth time in the last twenty minutes.
"Joey," Chris told his friend. "For the last time, I hope so. I don't know. Evelyn's been through a lot. But she needed to talk to somebody, that much I do know. She's done so much for us, it was the least we could do." He sighed and plopped down in a chair. "But I don't know if we did the right thing making her tell us right now."
Joey nodded. "I know, but I wish we could help. She's hurting right now. And I don't like it."
"And I do?" Chris asked. "Look, we both know she's in pain. And we both want to help her, but we can't do anything else. She's already upset that we made her tell us, and I don't want to make it any worse then it already is."
"So what do we do now?" Joey asked. "About Daryl I mean."
"What can we do?" Chris asked. "It's not like we can unkill him. I wish we could do something like that, but we can't. Or at least I can't." He grinned and looked at Joey. "Of course Evelyn could be teaching you a few things that I don't know about."
Joey laughed. "Nope, nothing like that. Or if she is, I don't know about it either." The smile slid from his face. "I wonder what Daryl meant when he said that a message would be coming."
Chris shrugged. "I'd rather know what he meant when he said that there was danger moving toward us. I really don't like the sounds of that. Have you found anything else out?"
"Nope," Joey said. "Only what he told me the first time. I haven't been able to contact him again. Apparently he doesn't want to talk. Or has nothing else to say. He's still there, I can sense him, but he's not saying anything."
"Well that sucks," Chris said. "At least we know the guys are still alive. That's something. I was really starting to worry about them. I miss them."
"I do too," Joey said. "It's been too long since we've seen them. You sort of get used to having them around all the time, and when they're not there. It's just odd. Like something isn't exactly right."
"Joey," Chris smirked. "With all due respect I wouldn't exactly say this world is normal for us. Exactly how many people back home did you know that could levitate objects with their mind, or burst into flames at will?"
Joey leaned over and smacked Chris upside his head. "You knew what I meant."
"Yep," Chris grinned. "But that doesn't mean I have to let you know that."
"You are so going to get it," Joey said. He stood up and advanced on Chris.. "You're going down."
"Maybe," Chris said as he ran for the door. "But you'll have to catch me first." He pulled the door open and bolted out into the yard.
Spring was starting to set into the forest so there wasn't a lot of snow. Or at least not as much as their used to be. You could actually see the ground in some places. The temperature wasn't too bad either. They were both dressed warmly enough that the slight chill in the air didn't bother them.
"Do you think running out into the forest is going to save you?" Joey asked.
"Nope," Chris said. "But it will save me from Evelyn. Do you have any idea how upset she'd be if we trashed the house?"
"Good point."
"Besides, I couldn't do this if we were inside." With a slight popping sound Chris burst into flames. "Let's see if you can take me down now."
"Sure," Joey said.
Joey lifted his hand and a few sticks rose out of the snow. Joey flicked his wrist toward Chris, sending some of the floating sticks flying. Chris grinned behind his aura of flame and looked at the sticks flying toward him. The sticks burst into flames and burned to ash before they touched him.
"Better luck next time," Chris smirked. He concentrated for a instant and the area around Joey erupted in flames. Joey was startled and shot upward as the remaining sticks dropped to the ground. "Stand still." Chris hurled a few bolts of fire at Joey, which were easily dodged.
"You expect me to stand still?" Joey asked. "You've got to be joking."
"Of course I want you to stand still." Chris flung another bolt of fire at Joey. He didn't notice a nearby log sneaking up on him. The log caught him just below the back of his knee and knocked him backward into the snow. The flames hissed as the snow hit them, but didn't go out. Chris tried to get to his feet, but ended up burning the log to cinders before he could get anywhere.
While Chris was preoccupied with the log, Joey floated over to the basin of water that was sitting near the cabin. Because the nights were still really cold, the water had frozen solid. And the days weren't warm enough yet to melt it when the sun was up. He grinned wickedly to himself. Joey threw himself sideways to avoid the blast of fire that Chris threw at him.
"Doh," Chris muttered. "Almost. I'm going to get you."
"Probably not," Joey smirked as he raced toward the tree line. There was more snow there, so Chris' fire wouldn't be as useful.
"Oh no you don't," Chris said. He held his hands up and slightly apart. A wave of flame shot from them. He moved them side to side, melting the snow as he went. "You're not going to win that easily."
"Didn't plan on it," Joey said. He leapt into the air and floated away as Chris brought the flames to bare on him. "I thought this would work instead."
"Wha?" Chris asked. The frozen block of ice dropped on him from above. Joey had moved it from the basin while Chris had been melting the snow. The heat from the flames around Chris melted the ice before it hit him. His flames hissed and went out. "That was completely uncalled for."
Joey grinned and landed next to his friend. "I don't think so. It's not like you have anything to be talking about Mr. Throwing fire at your friends."
"You started it," Chris said. "Besides, we're not finished." He didn't wait for Joey to respond before sweeping is feet out from underneath him. Joey landed face first in the mud that had been made when Chris melted the snow. Chris dropped onto his friend's back, pinning him to the ground. "We're just getting started."
Karr lay back on the bed. A few hours before Damek had finished making the vision that he was going to deliver to Justin, Joey, Chris, and Josh. Though he had a feeling that he was going to pull Lance into it as well. It would be best for all of them to know that the others were coming as well. He mentally ran over the vision to make sure that he had all the details. This was possibly one of the most important things he had done in centuries.
Once he was satisfied he closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Slowly his skin began to pale. The black of his clothing started to fade to dark gray, then light gray, and then white. His hair colour made the same transition as his clothing, fading from dark black to white. Once his colourings had faded to white he started to become transparent. Subtle at first, but it was definitely happening. Soon his body faded from existence. His consciousness blanked out for a moment.
His consciousness filtered back to him as his body began to reform. First he became solid, then his colouring faded in. Shortly he was exactly the way he had been when he started this. Of course his location had changed drastically.
The dream world was chaotic at best. Lethal at worst. In many respects it was similar to the astral plane. There were key differences though. If one were to get lost in the astral plane, one would be just that. Lost. Here, however, getting lost would usually promise one of two things. Insanity and death. It would appear as if you had died of natural causes in your sleep. That's assuming you left a body when you came to the dream world. Some people didn't.
Karr looked around to get his bearings. The ground, or what passed for it here, was a semi-liquid ectoplasmic creation that extended from where he was standing to the horizon in all directions. The sky was similar except it seemed far more fluid then the ground. All around him were countless tiny dots of light. About half of them at any given time were brighter then the other half. Now and again one of the lights would flicker and change its brightness. The colouring changed dramatically from one moment to the next. The astral plane changed in variations of reds, greens and blues. And when the mists of the astral plane changed colour it was done gently. Fading from one colour to the next. Here the colour changes were anything but gentle. One second it was deep blue, then in a blink of an eye it had changed to bright orange. It would have made Karr ill if he hadn't come here so often.
Finding his bearings Karr strode forward. The ground before him solidified into a stone path as he walked. He opened his mind to the dream world and began pulling what he wanted toward him. As he continued walking one of the lights moved toward him. It wasn't as bright as some of the other ones were. When the light floated right next to him Karr stopped. Carefully he touched the light with his mind.
"That was easier then I thought it'd be," he said to himself. "Now let's see if finding the others' dream-pools will be as easy."
He began walking forward again. The light hovered behind him, keeping close to him without actually touching him. In a few minutes another light started zeroing in on him. Karr smiled at collecting another dream-pool and kept moving. It didn't take too long before he had five dream-pools hovering around him.
"Now," he said to himself. "Let's see if they'll all go to sleep now."
He closed his eyes and began to chant the spell Nydia had taught him before he had left. Small wisps of mist floated from his fingers as he waved his arms through the air. The mist collected around each of the dream-pools. Karr kept chanting until each of the pools was completely enveloped in mist. He made a few tying gestures with his hands and the mist reacted by extending tendrils to touch the other pools. When he finished each of the pools was tied to the others by the mist.
"And now all I have to do is wait for them to sleep," Karr said to himself. Almost as soon as he said that one of the pools began to glow more brightly. He laughed. "Apparently my timing is right on." As he said this the other pools began to glow brightly. "I'll have to thank Nydia for putting them to sleep like this."
Gathering his power Karr reached out and touched the pool in the middle of the chain. There was a flash of light and he vanished.
"Perhaps you should just go to sleep now," Erastus said. He had been attempting to get JC to listen to him for the last hour. It hadn't been working. The song of grief had taken a lot out of JC and all he really wanted to do was sleep. Finally Erastus gave into this and dismissed him for the night.
Falling asleep had never been a problem with JC, and tonight was no exception. If anything he actually managed to fall asleep faster then he normally did. Within moments he was dreaming. Though he rarely remembered his dreams, he could always remember that he had had one when he woke up. Tonight the dream was more vivid.
He was floating in the cave that he and Erastus shared. At first glance he couldn't Erastus anywhere. Oddly enough he was dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt. He hadn't worn anything like this since he had arrived here. Jeans just weren't the most comfortable swimming material. The cave had the odd film over it that told you that you were dreaming.
"Josh?" A man said as he stepped out of the shadows. He was tall and athletically built, but other then that JC couldn't make out his features. The man's features were shrouded in darkness. Like he was just a shadow.
"Yes?" JC asked.
"I need to show you some things," the man told him. "Please come with me."
Seeing that he didn't really have much choice in the matter, JC agreed. He stepped toward the man. "Where are we going?"
"Several places," the man said. "And none at all."
"Huh?" JC asked. "What's that suppose to mean?"
"Don't worry about it," the man said.
The world around them wrenched and tore. Once the world had corrected itself JC looked around. They were standing in a snow filled pine forest. He guessed that spring wasn't too far off because the snow showed signs of melting.
"Where are we?" JC asked. "Why are we here?" He almost regretted asking those questions the moment they left his mouth. Nothing happened, but he just hated saying things like a character from some horrible movie.
"I've brought you here to show you something," the man told him again. "They're this way."
He led JC through the forest without so much as a glance behind him. JC admired the trees and the general beauty of the forest. He wasn't affected by the cold so he didn't let that bother him. What did attract his attention was the fact neither he nor the man left footprints in the snow. It was strange, but since this was a dream he let it go. Before too long the man stopped walking. They had reached their destination.
Their destination was a cabin in a smallish clearing. It looked comfortable enough. He had to laugh though, it looked like it had been plucked right out of a cartoon. Smoke wafted upward from the chimney. He took all of this in with a glance, what caught his attention were the two people stacking firewood n the front yard.
"Joey? Chris?" He whispered. "Guys!" He called louder.
"They can't hear you," the man told him. "Or see you, or feel you. Don't bother trying to get your attention. This hasn't happened yet. None of what I'm going to show you has. But it could."
As if that were her, cue a woman moved from around the side of the cabin. She was dressed in a blue robe and she moved with incredible grace. She didn't seem hindered by the snow at all. Neither Joey or Chris noticed the woman. They kept chatting to each other while they stacked the wood.
"She's the Blue Acolyte," the man told JC.
Blue stopped walking when she stood about fifty feet from Joey and Chris. She called out to them to get their attention. It worked. Both of them stopped stalking wood to see who the new comer was. It annoyed JC that he couldn't hear what they were saying, and the man wouldn't let him move closer to find out.
Chris said something and the woman's body began to shake. It took JC a moment to realize she was laughing. He started to try to figure out what Chris had said that was so funny. Blue abruptly stopped laughing. Joey collapsed in the snow holding his head shouting something. Chris looked shocked for a moment before he was thrown backward into a large tree. The tree shock violently for a moment before falling forward, crushing him.
The man's arm snapped out and stopped JC from racing from the trees to help his friends. "This hasn't happened yet," he said. "There is nothing you can do yet."
By this time Joey had leaned back on his heels and seemed to be howling in pain at the sky. Blood flowed from his eyes as if he were crying. The streams of blood started out small but quickly grew until his face was almost completely covered in blood. He gave a spastic jump before collapsing into the snow. Blue stood over his body. She began to laugh again.
"I've other things to show you," the man said.
The world wrenched again. This time they were standing in a desert. Justin lay sleeping near a dying campfire. JC could barely watch as a black robed man stepped out of the night and woke his friend. There was a brief scuffle that ended with Justin lying next to the fire again. His neck bent at an impossible angle.
JC was in tears when they returned to the cave they'd started in. He had just seen his friends killed. He cried harder as he thought of the tree that had killed Chris. He still didn't know what happened to Joey, but he knew it had been painful. Watching Justin being killed had been even harder on him. They'd known each other for so long, it tore something from him when he had seen his friend's neck broken. The shocked look on Lance's face still remained in his mind. Even seeing himself killed hadn't been as difficult as seeing his friends murdered. Though he knew that the image of the white robed woman standing over his lifeless body was going to haunt him for a long time.
"Why are you showing me these things?" JC asked quietly after he had composed himself. "What do you want?"
"None of this has happened yet," the man said. "But they will if you stay where you are. People want you dead, and they'll get what they want if you don't leave. Go to your friend Lance. I can't say that you won't die, but you will have a much greater chance at survival. My powers are being strapped too much to help you against the Acolytes if you are spread apart like you are."
"I don't even know where Lance is," JC snapped. "How am I suppose to go to him and stop these things from happening if I don't know where to start."
"England," the man said simply.
"What?"
"Lance is in England. He's a guest of Selvar. Tell your friend that, Erastus I believe his name is. He'll know where to take you. You don't have much time to work with Josh. I would leave as soon as possible."
"LANCE!!!" Justin shouted as he sat up. He began to shiver, though not from the cool desert wind.
"Justin?" Pyre's voice was filled with concern.
"We have to go to England," Justin said.
"What?"
"I said we have to go to England," Justin repeated. "Lance is there."
"I'm assuming it's the same Lance you've told me about before," Pyre said.
Justin nodded. "Yeah. We've got to get to him."
Pyre sat up and wrapped his arms around Justin's shoulder. "Are you going to explain that?"
"I dreamed about him," Justin said. "About my other friends, they're heading to England too. Except for Lance. He's already there."
"What happened in your dream?"
We all died," Justin said simply. "But Lance's was the worst. I can still see the look on his face." He sighed and snuggled into Pyre's arms. "It started out here. I was sleeping next to the fire when a man showed up. Couldn't make out anything about him, he was covered in shadows. He took me places. I saw Joey, Chris, JC and Lance. They couldn't see or hear me." Pyre didn't say anything. He just hugged Justin close to him.
"I saw them first. Some woman in blue showed up and killed them. She dropped a tree on Chris. And I don't know what she did to Joey. He just dropped to the ground and his eyes started bleeding."
"A mind wave," Pyre said. "An attack leveled at the mind. It's devastating if used properly."
Justin nodded before continuing. "Some witch in white burned JC to death. It was awful. It looked so painful. And I couldn't do anything to help him." Justin started to cry. Pyre rocked him back and forth slightly to calm him enough for him to carry on.
"Thanks," Justin said. "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it," Pyre said.
"JC was bad," Justin said quietly. "The look on his face. But Lance was the worst. We were in Selvar's castle. Lance was sitting reading a book near the fire. I couldn't make out what he was reading, but it looked like it was heavy reading. He was completely involved in it. Some guy in a green robe showed up. Lance didn't notice him at first, but when the man pulled a sword Lance turned to look at him. They fought. Lance didn't have a weapon. He tried to use the book, but it wasn't any good." Justin stopped. He held Pyre tightly to him.
"It's alright," Pyre whispered to him. "It was only a dream."
"No," Justin said. "It wasn't just a dream. There's more to it. Pyre, I want to go to England. I want to make sure that Lance is alright."
"Are you sure?" Pyre asked. "It's a long way to travel."
"I'm positive," Justin said firmly. "I have to know. If my dream was true, then I'll be together with my friends." He turned to look Pyre in the eye. "I'd like it if you came with me."
"I'm not letting you go anywhere without me," Pyre said. He kissed Justin lightly on the lips. "You're just too damn cute to leave unattended."
"Of course I'm too cute to leave unattended," Justin grinned and kissed Pyre back. "You'd never know who I'd run off with. And who knows, maybe one of the guys will know something about what Martha said. I'm still not sure what to think about that."
"It was odd," Pyre said. "But it had something to do with one of us. I did some checking around about her. She doesn't usually have visions like that, and when she does, they're always relevant to the person she says them to."
"Whatever," Justin shrugged. "So when should we leave? The man in my dream said we shouldn't take too long."
"Well, if we pick up supplies tomorrow we should be able to leave shortly after noon. How does that sound?"
"What time is it now?"
Pyre looked at the moon for a minute. "Shortly after midnight. Why?"
Justin grinned. "Well, I think that should give us more then enough time for sleep. That and a few other things."
"Just what did you have in mind?" Pyre grinned in the dark.
"I don't know," Justin said kissing Pyre's neck. "I think we can figure something out to pass the time."
TBC
How was that? Let me know what you guys think. I want to know. E-mail me at Mist_dark@hotmail.com I'd really like to hear from you. Let me know about likes, dislikes and all of that stuff.
Rune