Parallel Universe

Huddled around the small flame-lit lamp, providing warmth and light for the rebel forces hiding deep in the catacombs that run beneath the city, the small group was begging Slither to tell the story of the invasion. "How did you get in to his fortress?" begged Marcie, an intelligent girl with a dark complexion and bright green eyes, who was the youngest of the rebel fighters. "How were you able to overcome the Indulgence?" asked Greyson, a tall, lanky scientist with sandy brown hair and thick, dark-rimmed glasses. "Why milk?" wondered Lex, a husky man of oriental decent, with incredible strength and questionable intelligence. It had been two weeks since Slither successfully completed the Invasion, but he had been on the run ever since. In the time that he was running, his story had become something of a legend. Some stories claim he scaled the 50' walls of the fortress, others claim he fought of 30 guards without a weapon and others say Slither filled the jug of milk by milking the Master's prized cow with one hand while fending off guards with the other. But the truth was nothing of the sort. Also in this time came more people like the Master, though they seemed to lack the same mental abilities. Still, this brought more destruction, more oppression and more death to the locals. With the chaos and confusion of the rebellion that ensued, following the Invasion, the Master was losing control. Many police officers and soldiers were fleeing to join the rebels. Groups of rebels had survived and avoided capture, but were hiding out in various locations, trying to get organized and to better understand their enemy. Slither had stumbled across this small group of rebels while searching for a new place to hide, and was now considering where to start to tell his story. "Alright, alright." groaned Slither, "The day that you are all calling 'the Invasion', I was looking in my closet for an extra blanket, when I came across an old bottle of scotch. Now the Master was very thorough in banning and clearing out all alcohol upon taking control of the city, but he must have missed this one because even I had completely forgotten about it... I had hid it in my closet, so my parents wouldn't see it, years ago. I picked it up and wanted nothing more than to have a drink, so I took a swig. After a few more sips, I got a little tipsy and then proceeded to get downright drunk. The rest is a little hazy, but I stumbled down the street, to the Master's fortress and walked right in." "What about the guards?" inquired Marcie, sounding very skeptical of Slither's story. "There were none," explained Slither. "People are so afraid of the Master and what we believe is an ability to read our minds, that no one ever attempted to storm the fortress. I think that the Master was so confident that he had us all so afraid of him that he did not need to guard his home; he just kept his forces roaming the streets and acting on his command. So I stumbled into his home, thinking I would give him a piece of my mind. I walked into the main lobby and heard a conversation in the other room. At this point, things were getting pretty cloudy, as I hadn't drank anything in a long time and my tolerance was low, but I apparently was alert enough to get out my phone and take a video." Slither got out his phone and showed what he had recorded. - The quality was poor, but what the group saw was the Master standing there talking to some people who were there, but they weren't 'THERE'. It almost looked like the people were standing on the other side of a door way in the middle of the room, but there was no door. These others had a similar look to the Master, and a similar accent. The Master looked tired and weak, like he was straining to hold something up, but did not have the strength to continue doing it for much longer. Then there was the sound of dry heaving coming from Slither. The doorway flickered then disappeared and the Master looked over at the camera... The camera went black. - "That's when the alcohol really started to hit me," explained Slither. "The master was so weak that he collapsed on the floor before he could get to me. I finished throwing up, got up and made my way out of there. With some of the alcohol out of my system, I was able to think a little more clearly and grabbed some things from the fridge and counter on my way out... Including several bottles of alcohol, a package of bacon, some bread and a gallon of milk. I've been on the run ever since. For the first week, I found that if I kept up a little bit of a buzz, he couldn't get inside my mind... but since the others showed up it seems like he has stopped trying." "It looked like the Master was speaking, through a portal, to people like him from another world," noted Greyson. "And clearly using his abilities was exhausting for him..." "So we know his weaknesses are his pride and overusing his ability!" gleamed Marcie. "Ya got any more of that booze?" inquired Lex.