Organization: Penn State University
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 13:02:01 EDT
From: <ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [L] Lathan in the Void

ADMIN:  This came to me...don't take it seriously...I just thought some
        people would enjoy reading it.  Read the ADMIN at the end for
        more information.

     One minute, Lathan was plummeting toward the ground, and then he was
floating in greyness.  Around him, many things floated: a rose, a loop of
rope, a pouchful of sand, a mirror, a blanket, and a pair of glowing eyes.
     "At last, I am FREE!" came a voice from those eyes as they rushed past
Lathan and out through a white opening.  As soon as the creature was through
it, the opening closed behind him leaving Lathan alone, floating in greyness
without any sense of the passing of time.

     Luthor shuddered at what he KNEW would come next.  Soon after Lathan
disappeared into the cloak, there was a rumbling which started low and
eventually shook Luthor so badly that he fell over.  From the top of the
cloak sprang a 10' tall Earth Elemental.  He landed on the ground and
roared in triumph.
     "At last I am FREE!  Luthor, I pity you for now I know all of your
secrets and with them, I will defeat you," said the elemental with red-hot
hatred in his voice.
     "You fool.  If you try to use Shadow Magic, you will destroy us all.
You have no idea what it can do," Luthor said with fear in his voice.
     "WRONG!  I have every idea of what it can do... THE GROUND COULD SHAKE!"
he said using Shadow Magic.
     Indeed, the ground did begin to shake.  The ground split and parted
beneath Luthor.  Huge sections of land rose while others sank.  In the
forest beyond the clearing, trees shook and fell on their side.
     Further and further the magic wound its way across the continent/island.
In far away Generica, buildings fell, the sewers opened and their foul
contents washed the streets.  Things that were not meant to see the surface,
buried by long dead gods, rose and began to kill.
     "I AM GOD, I AM POWER, I RULE THIS WORLD AND ALL OTHERS" shouted the
elemental above the sound of the quivering earth.
     "BOW TO ME LUTHOR OR I WILL DESTROY THIS PLACE.  I WILL DESTROY
EVERYTHING." he continued.
     Without waiting for a reply, he continued, "EVERYONE COULD DIE EXCEPT
MYSELF AND LUTHOR" he chanted...at that moment, Murell, Salamander, Brycur,
Bakr, Lathan, Thk, Nightstalker, ...sage, 'Raelf, Seer, Trawn, Littlefair,
Rowan the Bard, Kadrys, and everyone else died.
     Full of power and megalomania, the elemental went further.
     "You imprisoned me in that damned cloak for decades.  This is your
punishment...my revenge...THIS WORLD MIGHT NOT EXIST" he chanted...and then
there was nothing.

     In another world, run by science instead of magic, one that wasn't as far
from Generica as people would like to think, several people looked up from
their computer screens and looked around the room.  'Who does this guy think
he is?  He can't do that,' they thought.  Then they looked back down at their
screens and continued reading.

     Floating in greyness, all that was left was Luthor and the Elemental.
     "Well, it MIGHT exist," Luthor suggested, and with that idea, everything
came back as it was, before the elemental abused the Shadows...except for
one thing.  The elemental was now a blubbering mass of insanity...

ADMIN: I have based the concept of Shadow Magic on the principles
       of Existentialism...the idea that nothing is truly real is
       somewhat appealing to me.  Shadow Magic is the changing of
       reality by inforcing your will upon it, but the more likely
       something is to happen, the greater the ease of changing it.
       In other words, the greater the probability of something
       happening, the easier it is to MAKE it happen.
       For readings on this sort of idea, I suggest "Illusions"
       by Richard Bach (a true classic IMHO).

ADMIN: I apologise to anyone who thinks that all of this is stupid,
       but I'm in a wierd mood today and felt like expressing my
       wierdness.

ADMIN: Luthor could never be this powerful since he believes that
       the world around him is real.  To truly believe otherwise
       would make you go insane.

ADMIN: The funny thing is, SHADOW MAGIC COULD EXIST <--he chanted as he
       finished his strangest post yet.

     With that done, he ended the article by signing his familiar slogan:

    "Love and Peace and Reality,
           -The Dreamer-"
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn