A Kindling Flame

> Author's Note:
>
>

*"Fellow Writers, (I do not use the term 'knights' as I feel I am more like a knight in training) I apologize for the long wait, I should not have been so negligent in beginning something and not finishing it, especially with a two year gap. However, I have finally written the rest and I do hope you all enjoy it! Sincerely, Kal.*

### Chapter 1: Tragic Beginnings.

Kalaren strolled to the shiny new playground.

One week ago, time seemed to have disappeared. Time itself had no restraints, causing histories to repeat itself, futures to become past, presents to not exist.
Everyone has their own sense of time now. "5 seconds for me is something
 entirely different for someone else." His life had been changed, and
it had been some time since he had been able to relax. However, today
was his 13th birthday, according to himself, and he had asked permission
 to take a walk to the new playground. His sisters, Sarah and Lucille,
would join him after they finished cleaning dishes.

The only thing that marred his relaxation was that his father was ill
with a sickness called "Maelstrom Infection". Some sort of space
disease that originated from far away. It was interfering with his
father's work as Ankoria's foremost Swordsmith. The doctors would not
tell much to Kal or his sisters. The doctors would spend a lot of time
with their parents...

But he was not supposed to be worrying about that now. Mother had said
to enjoy himself.

As he rounded the corner of some trees, he saw smoke.

"A barbecue!" he said, pleased. He hurried to it.

As he neared it, he realized it was anything but a barbecue fire.
Rather, a fire from torches and siege weaponry.

It was a barbarian raiding party from the prehistoric ages. This was not
 the first time this week that barbarians had appeared in downtown, but
this time... they had space-age weaponry as well. And they knew just
enough to be as maximally dangerous as possible.

One of them swung up onto the top of some monkey bars, and let loose a
honorary war-cry, which Kalaren recognized from the news reports.

"HOOOOGA!"

As distracting as the sight of a kilted barbarian with a laser rifle and
 space miner's helmet yelling 'Hooga' was, Kalaren noticed something
else.

A quite more civilized character with a black cloak and sword, in
matching red and black armor. He walked around the general chaos, but
Kalaren noticed how the barbarians made way for him. They did not look
at him, but they went out of their way to not interrupt his passage
to...The general direction of ...

His house!

He ran after the cloaked man, hardly noticing the barbarians as they
attempted to detain him with fist and knife. Kalaren's heart suddenly
felt very cold and achy. Something terrible was about to happen. He knew
 it for a certainty. Even as he ran as fast as he could, the dour man
got further and further out of reach, even though he went no faster than
 a businesslike stride, till he was out of view. Kalaren realized that
his sense of time was getting slower than the mysterious man's, and
there was nothing he could do about it...

Once Kalaren got to his house, he pushed the unlatched front door open.

A horrible sight greeted him home.  His sisters would not be meeting him... at the park, or anywhere. Ever. Again.

He ran into the living room, tears bursting, and saw the cloaked figure, with his back towards him. He was standing over his father, who lay still on the floor.

Kalaren glared at the figure, and grabbed a weapon off the wall, not really caring what it was. He charged at the figure with it, venting his emotions through sound and action. At the last second of Kalaren's vehement charge, the armored figure spun around and deftly disarmed Kalaren of his ceremonial knife with a flick of his  sword. The knife was sent quivering into the wall.

The man gave a light chuckle as Kalaren slowly raised his fists in a boxing stance. Withdrawing something from his belt, the mystery man threw it at the floor. Then everything went white.

### Chapter 2: Prisoner

Kalaren awoke briefly. His mind was foggy, and it was somehow difficult to concentrate. The lighting was dark green, and very sparse. There was a low humming noise.

He also became aware that he was strapped to a chair. Finding a window to his left, he was able to look out it's heavily tinted portal, and saw multi-colored lights streaking along. Then he fell back into slumber.

The next time he awoke, he was strapped to a table, in a dark room. There were four figures in the room. One of them was the mystery man. He was leaning in the corner. The others could only be described as modern doctors, or perhaps scientists.

One of them was standing in front of Kalaren, thoughtfully stroking his chin.

"The test-subject is awake, M'lord Vladek."

The mystery man walked forward.

*"So that is his name!"* thought Kalaren.

"Good, give him the prescription." Ordered Vladek.

The doctor in front of Kalaren smiled most sinisterly. Then Kalaren felt a needle being inserted into his arm by one of the other doctors. All in all, it didn't hurt that bad.... Immediately.

"I leave him in your care, doctors. Be sure that I will not regret it. I must return, lest my absence be noticed."

As soon as Vladek left, one of the doctors began poking his neck with a long toothpick. Most annoying.

Time passed. The same routines would occur, in different orders, always ending with him blacking out again. One of the 3 doctors would almost always be there, running some test on him. Or Vladek would come in and check on things. At one point, Kalaren woke up, and found his right arm was missing. There were two of the doctors, and they were talking with Vladek.

"It's not our fault we ran out of sample-needles! So we decided to just lop off a limp and freeze it! That will-"

"You do not have my permission to carve up the test subject!"

Kalaren decided to speak up. "Nor mine! It hurts!"

"Give him more silencer." Vladek said, not taking his furious gaze off the doctors.

"Listen, M'lord," said one of the doctors, as he looked around for an injector. "His DNA is proving hard to match and mix with everyone else's. We believe it's because he's from a different dimension. So instead of doing tiny batches, we thought a BIG batch might actually have better cohesion with the others."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Then he has a second arm, we can use that!" he said, stabbing Kalaren in the neck with the injector. Kalaren tried to object, but found his vocal cords would not work, to do whatever toxin he had just been injected with.

Vladek scowled. "No! If it doesn't work, then what is the point in trying something that doesn't work?"

"...You're right. We'd have to do a BIGGER batch!"

"THERE'S ONLY ONE MAN." Burst out Vladek.

"Then why don't we just clone this guy directly, instead of trying to make a new clone just yet?"

Vladek pondered a moment. "You tell me. Would that dilute the DNA?"

"It would just make it easier to mix with, as the copy would show that he was made in this parallel, instead of that other."

"Then that might work." Conceded Vladek. "The sword his father made will only answer to someone from his bloodline."

"Well, this clone would still have the same fellow's... Bloodline. Just not sure if it would have all the weird parallel-dimension wavelength DNA nonsense, which would be helpful to be without."

"Very well. You may proceed."

"Thank you, sir!"

The two doctors unstrapped Kalaren from his restraints. Holding him by his shoulders, they took him into a small tube-like closet, and closed him in, as green gas began to fill the small space. Moments later, Kalaren was forced to breath the gas, and he fell unconscious.

When he awoke, he was staring at himself. A perfect clone, also without an arm.

The small tube, or cloning device, as it appeared to be, opened, and he stumbled into a doctor's arms, who immediately shuffled him back into his restraints on the tilted table. His clone was more comatose, and landed with a solid splat on the floor.

Noticing his throat felt different, Kalaren decided to try his luck with his voice.

"So, how's the weather, doctor? What's your name?"

The doctor looked at him with a straight face. Looking around, the doctor seemed to belatedly realize he was the only one there.

"Well, this has never happened, has it?" he said. "It appears I'm the only one here."

"Huh, looks like that. 'Cause I'm chopped liver?"

"No, you're 'test subject.' However, Vladek did not say that I was not allowed to give you cybernetics!"

"What?!"

"Cybernetics! Do you want an enhanced arm?"

"Why would you give me cybernetics?"

"Because you soon will be chopped to bits. I know this clone will work. Also, I simply *love* the blending of man and machine!" he exclaimed, a wild light glinting in his eyes. "Oh, and plus, Vladek gave me my pay in advance, and without some prosthetic limb of some kind, you may not survive. Your natural internal imagination count won't flow without a 4th appendage to flow through, it would seem."

Kalaren's eyebrows tweaked worriedly. "Oookay. Do you know how long I've been here?"

"One and a half years, roughly."

"Huh. It seems high time I escaped. Any ideas?"

The doctor pondered a moment. "Yes! I suggest... LASERS! Also, my guidance." He said, sounding insane and then sage. "But let's see about those cybernetics first. Would you like a glove?"

"What do you mean? I still need the arm."

"No, I mean a glove, to cover the cybernetics a bit. It would still have glowey highlights, because, well, those are awesome."

"Very good point. Ok, sure."

"JELLYFISH!"

"WHAT!?!"

"Do you want jellyfish tattoos?"

"No! What makes you scream 'jellyfish' like that?!"

"I forgot to take my jellyfish-based sanity medication this morning. Forgive me."

A few hours later, Kalaren had his life-saving prosthetic limb, complete with a fancy black mesh-fiber glove.

"So, what's next?"

The doctor looked up. "Well, since I have a copy of you, which is turning out much easier to extract and mix DNA with the others I have, I guess you're free to go!" He smiled.

"I thought you said I needed your guidance?"

"Oh yeah. You do. But first, let's get some lasers. Before Vlads shows up and gets fussy about you." He muttered nonchalantly, unstrapping Kalaren.

Kalaren couldn't believe his luck. His doctor was... quite possibly insane. And ridiculously helpful.

### Chapter 3: Lasers and Sharks.

"I still don't know your name, doctor." Kalaren said, as they ran down a corridor. Kalaren was carrying a large wormholer, while the doctor was holding the blaster and missile rack. They had taken them from a guard they had overpowered. Kalaren had also taken the armor.

The doctor paused at a corner. "Give me a minute; I forgot." He said, looking mildly perturbed. "My name is... Um... Today I shall call myself Doctor Jellyfish! Sound good?"

"Sure, Doctor Jellyfish." Kalaren facepalmed.

Doctor Jellyfish fired at a door with his missile. "This way! I'm 48% sure!"

"I don't like those odds."

"Is that your unlucky number?"

"No, it's just less than half."

"So your lucky number is more than 96?"

"No, I... nevermind." He said, as he focused his attention on the troop of shinobis striding into the room. In a moment, they were all around him. His wormholer took care of two, and the Doctor was able to hit one with his blaster, leaving 13 left. Kalaren espied a nearby window.

"Over here!" He exclaimed, shooting the window to enlarge it. Then he made a break for it, only realizing it was above a moat once he had jumped though it.

A few shinobi followed after him, and they all landed with a splash in the moat. Kalaren used the blade part of the weapon to swing around, as the firing system wouldn't work with water. Suddenly, something grabbed the wormholer, and wrenched it out of his hands, leaving him with only his cybernetic arm.

*"Well I'm glad doc made these waterproof!"* he belatedly realized. Swimming out of the moat, Kalaren looked up into the faces of two shinobi.

"Hi there. I hope we can be civil."

"Nope." Replied one, swinging his foot at Kalaren to kick him into the moat. However, Kalaren dodged to one side, grabbing his foot and pulling him down. Snatching a sword from the shinobi, he used it to parry the other's blow. Then he stood atop one, while he attempted to fence the other. Sadly, it took no time at all for the other to disarm him. Just as the final blow was about to be delivered, a blaster shot got him squarely in the temple.

"Jellyfish power!" rang out a voice from the window high up.

After kicking the other shinobi in the head to knock him out, Kalaren looked up.

The doctor was waving. "Be free, test subject! And wait for me!" then he too jumped out the window. Kalaren looked into the moat. There were shark fins.

"Wait! The moat is filled with-"

"Geronimooo!" screamed the doctor. Unfortunatly, the sharks had been alerted to this fashion after Kalaren and the other shinobi had, so they were all too prepared to gobble the doctor as he came down. However, unfortunately for the sharks, Doctor Jellyfish had his blaster which he used to shoot the waiting sharks, and an empty missile cartridge which he threw at them for good measure, causing them to scatter.

A few minutes later showed the odd duo safely scampering into the nearby woods.

### Chapter 4: A Walk Through Grey

Kalaren was quite tired.

Him and his companion, who called himself Jellyfish, had been running in a forest that appeared to be dead, barren, and very creepy for the last forty minutes. Kalaren also was irritated at the fact of many questions but no solutions to them. He had tried to ask Jellyfish to enlighten him, but he didnt get any answers. Jellyfish was too absorbed in his discussion of how adaptable monkeys were with artificial limbs ( an interesting topic for the right people, but Kalaren was to tired to care).

Jellyfish had stopped rambling. Kalaren saw why; there was a tangle of dead branches, roots, and a very old bird's nest in their way. Jellyfish then said:

"Could you saw off these branches in our way, lad?"

"Of course, as long as you answer some questions afterwards."

Jellyfish's expression turned from pondering to indignant.

"As a matter of fact, that is exactly what I have been doing for the past forty-three minutes! Why, rather the entirety of my lifetime!"

"Yes of course, but I meant questions about why the other two scientists cut my arm off, where we are, the such."

"Oh, sorry."

"Don't worry about it." There was an awkward, expectant pause. After a few seconds Kalaren ventured a "Well?"

"What?"

He sighed. "I asked if-"

"Oh yes, certainly!"

"Okay then." Kalaren walked forward to saw off the branches, but before he reached them several brown bats flew towards them. Mistaking them for another, much more dangerous animal, Kalaren yelped before raising his wormholer and sawing them to pieces. Kalaren looked at the remains of the bats.

He was pretty sure bats weren't supposed to have small spikes on them, but what did he know about bats? He looked at an alarmed Jellyfish, who soon recovered from the initial shock.

"Good job, that type of bat is more dangerous than you'd think."

Kalaren raised an eyebrow, then moved forward to saw the branches. As soon as he was finished Jellyfish started walking. Kalaren was grateful that they were doing something that was easier on both of them, especially Jellyfish. Jellyfish began to talk again.

"So, what would you like me to answer first?"

"Well, could we start at the beginning?"

"Yes we can, and will! Well, the Lord Vladek approached me in the village outside thedude's castle, where I've lived for awhile, and asked if I wanted to work for him. I didn't have any work currently so I agreed. Also, as I said earlier, he agreed to pay me in advance. I was a doctor in that village, rivaled by the only other one in the village. Dr. Crabapple. Anyway, He led the way to a horse-drawn carriage in which another scientist was seated. We carried on a lively conversation about the state of things in Morc-JELLYFISH!!!!"

Kalaren jumped and remembered that this happened when Jellyfish didnt have his sanity medication. Jellyfish apologized and continued with the story.

"Anyway, we continued onto another village where we picked up another scientist. He and Lord Vladek talked while I and the other scientist, continued talking, though less energetically. The other scientist had a history of taking some jobs that people generally weren't sure about. Anyway, after that we rode to his fort, where we passed by the prison cell and went down a passageway near the end. You saw it when we were escaping. We found you strapped to the table, where we were given instructions to slowly take DNA samples from you. Lord Vladek wanted this to be completely secret. Lord Vladek also explained what happened to you, due to questions from the last scientist. He said he wanted to get a clone of you that would be absolutely loyal to him, and only to him. He had some other assets he would mix in with the clone as well. I have a few ideas of what those assets were. I think he could have not only taken the DNA of a separate prisoner, but could have extracted the knowledge of a prisoner as well. We didn't have time to fulfill his request to do that to you."

Kalaren thought about this new-found information for awhile during which they continued walking, Jellyfish waited for a response and the forest remained dead.

Eventually Kalaren said, "Who is thedude?"

"Surely you know who thedude is?"

"Actually I really don't have a clue."

Jellyfish stopped and stared at Kalaren for a second, so Kalaren had to stop as well.

"Really? Well! He is the ruler of Morcia, and a tyrant at that. Lord Vladek helped his ascension to power. it is a long story."

"Alot must have happened while I was gone." Kalaren muttered. Then, more clearly he said, "I wonder why he wanted a clone of me."

"I certainly am not sure."

"...Would you like to hear my side of the story?"

"Certainly!"

So Kalaren explained to Jellyfish what he understood had happened.

"...And then I woke up and saw you by yourself and we escaped. Speaking of which, you seem pretty nice and you helped me escape and gave me my cybernetic but, can you remind me why I can trust you?"

Jellyfish seemed offended, but he did consider the question.

"Well, I see why you would wonder that. I suppose you would just have to trust me."

Kalaren smiled grimly. "Do I have any other choice?"

Jellyfish looked up, surprised. then a wry smile appeared on his face.

"Your right! You have my word I won't betray you at least!"

"Great! I do have another question though; Why were you calling Vladek 'Lord' Vladek?

Jellyfish was confused at himself for a moment.

"....I am not entirely sure. maybe because I was under his co-rule for awhile?"

Realization dawned on Jellyfishes face as he stopped walking. Kalaren followed suit.

"I SEPARATED MYSELF FROM THE KINGDOM! I'M A TRAITOR!!"

"Shhhhh!" Kalaren whispered. It wasn't so much that he knew that silence was required, but moreso that the forest seemed to soak up the sound. Jellyfish knew that silence was required though. His face lost a considerable amount of colour.

"Sorry, did I mention that this is a cursed land?"

"...It's a what?!?"

"Yes we just escaped from Vladek's fort, we ran into a forest to the west of his fort. We are in Ankoria-"

"But Ankoria is a prospering kingdom!!"

"Not in this dimension," Jellyfish said. Kalaren stared, wondering what 'dimensions' he was talking about. "It has a bad history, and most of the things that dwell here aren't pleasant. I don't know what would be pleasant in Ankoria, also please don't yell, you might attract attention."

Ironicly two cloaked figures who were hiding in the dead underbrush to their right jumped onto both of them, one for each. Kalaren tried to put up a struggle, but he was weaker from prison and his empty Wormholer was at an awkward position. The cloaked figure on Kalaren hit his head with both of his fists, knocking him unconscious. Jellyfish saw them out of the corner of his eye and tried to fire at the one who tried to jump him, but it appeared he was out of luck, it didn't fire. There probably wasn't anything modern working in Milteregnum. The second figure succesfully neutralized Jellyfish as well.

Jellyfish awoke.

The first thing that registered for jellyfish was that he heard hooves striking the ground continuously. He looked around and realized he was precariously tied to a creature with shaggy brown-gray fur. He yelped and looked around further. He saw some familiar fists coming down swiftly right before the world went black again.

### Chapter 5: The Ankorian Rebellion

Kalaren awoke to the realization he was tied to a pole, in what appeared to be the remains of a room. He couldn't guess what the room had been. Kalaren's head hurt. *'Must have been that blow to the head.'* He thought.

He looked around and saw that there was a guard and a small boy watching him and Jellyfish. The guard whispered to the boy and the boy ran off. Kalaren looked back at the guard. He had a long sword. He looked quite burly, and he had a brown beard that hanged below his chin. He was also looking at Kalaren. Kalaren looked back. The guard broke the silence with a question that was phrased in a thick accent.

"Why are you in A'koria?"

"That depends, are you allied with Vladek?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Generally you wouldn't."

"Exactly! Besides, I am the one asking the questions, remember?"

"I suppose."

"I will not be interrogating you though, the person who will shall be here shortly."

"Oh. Could you tell me about him?"

"Of course not."

"Oh well. It was worth a try."

"Ha! It may have been, but you cannot outwit me and my razor-sharp senses!"

"You have razor-sharp senses?"

"No, but I like to think I do!"

"Who know's? Maybe you do?"

"I don't."

Let's test that, which direction am I facing?"

"Uhhh, east?"

"Correct? I mean yes! you passed!"

The guard smiled broadly and jumped. "I do have razor-sharp senses! Hurrah!" The guard came forward and tried to hug Kalaren. That was kind of hard to do to someone tied to a pole. "How could I repay you?"

"You could stop hugging me for starters!"

"Yes! Sorry." The guard stopped hugging Kalaren.

"What is your name?"

"Egbert!"

"Nice to meet you, Egbert! I am Kalaren."

"Welcome to... I just remembered, I can't tell you that." Egbert said as his smile wilted and went back to being cautious. Kalaren was disappointed at the lack of useful information, but was glad he could call him something.

"That's alright, Egbert. I'll just wait to answer the interrogator's questions." Kalaren realized that interrogators didn't always just ask questions, so he said:

"He would just ask questions, right?"

"Eh, usually."

"..Define 'usually'."

"He probably won't, but if you make him mad or he thinks your on the other side, he probably will use other means."

*'So it's a he!'* Kalaren thought.

"Oh, well, I guess I just won't make him mad."

"So, who is your friend here?"

"He calls himself Jellyfish."

"What sort of a name is that!?"

"It isn't his actual name. I don't know what his actual name is. Neither does he."

"So you call him Jellyfish? As in the aquatic creature?"

"Yes."

"Where did you get such a silly idea?"

"He screams it at varying times when he doesn't take his sanity medications."

"....."

"It's true."

"You and your friend are very odd."

"Thanks. I know." Kalaren heard footsteps coming their way. Egbert stood straighter, Soon the boy from before and a man in varying knight's equipment, with a sword in its sheath came into the crumbled room. The man in the knight's equipment told the boy that he could go back and play now. The boy did so. Egbert started talking to the apparent knight.

"The boy with the red hair says 'is name is Kalaren, he also says I have razor-sharp senses!" The knight spoke with a gruff voice.

"You don't have razor-sharp senses, Egbert."

"I.... Don't? hmph! We'll see about that! Your facing 'worth'!"

"Worth isn't a direction, Egbert."

"Oh."

"What's the other one's name?"

"Kalaren says his name is Jellyfish."

"Jellyfish? As in the aquatic creature?"

He shrugged.

"Ok... Kalaren, what is your business in Ankoria? And are you allied with the current king? Or are you a rebel?"

Kalaren replied, "Me and Jellyfish were just passing through."

"You don't pass through Ankoria with a wormholer and a artificial arm."

"Well, we were, and then I suppose your agents waylaid us!"

"So? Why and how did you have a wormholer and an artificial limb?"

"My arm? What arm?"

"It's obvious that isn't your original arm."

"It is?"

"Yes you fool. Give me a reason why I shouldn't smash you and your friend here now."

Egbert winced. Kalaren jumped and thought about how quick the conversation went south. Was he bluffing? He didn't appear to be, but Kalaren knew he wasn't a great judge of character yet. But if he thought he was bluffing when he really wasn't, then that was it, he would never be able to avenge his family, and he couldn't let that happen, so he took the chance.

"Fine. Me and Jellyfish escaped from Vladek's fort, I was held captive there, by three scientists; Jellyfish was one of them. If you and your accomplices are rebels I, at least, would be glad to join you."

The knight was somewhat surprised at the developments.

"Could you elaborate on exactly what happened?"

Kalaren did so. It took a few minutes, but no one interrupted.

"...and then your agents jumped me." Kalaren finished.

"How do you know they were my agents?" the knight challenged.

"Well you don't seem like an interrogator, and the only other person who I think would talk to me would be the leader."

"Astute observation, Kalaren. I am Matheeas 'Quicksword' Lancaster, and yes, I am the leader. I will let you help us with certain things as long as your fine with a constant guard around you. From what you told us I think Vladek will send a patrol to sweep the area for you, if it was supposed to be kept secret. Its a good thing you brought all this tech with you, because were going to need it."

Egbert then untied Kalaren from the pole, and Kalaren and Matheeas shook hands.

"I am Kalaren of the Grimfire family, and I will be glad to fight alongside you!"

"Fight? You have experience in battle?" Matheeas remarked.

"Not much, just the escape."

"Well, we'll need everyone we can get, so we'll make an exception."

"One more thing... I haven't been able to get my wormholer to work since it ran empty." Kalaren admitted sorrowfully.

"Well, we won't be able to use that then, looks like. At least we still have Dr. Jellyfish's blaster and your arm. Egbert, you guard Kalaren, I'll send Wilda to help you guard him. I'll rally the rest of the troops while you get ready."

"Yes, Commander!" Egbert replied. With that Matheeas walked out of the room and started yelling out orders. Egbert turned to Kalaren.

"Is there a weapon you would preferably use?"

"Do you have any bows?"

Egbert started to speak, then stopped and thought for a second before saying, "Usually we send all of our bows to the few who live in Port Domead in exchange for fish."

"But?"

"But nothing. We sent them out already."

"Oh."

Jellyfish started to stir, and Kalaren came over and started untying him while Egbert was ready to catch him. Soon he was awake enough to speak.

"Where are we, Kalaren?"

Kalaren summarized. He was getting very good at this. "We are in a rebel base somewhere, I joined up with them, a patrol of Vladeks forces will most likely be here soon, and I don't think you and Vladek are on good terms, so you either can help us defend the base or run and maybe turn yourelf in."

Jellyfish thought about this for a second before reaching a decision.

"I... Will help you fight, but I will not be much help."

Kalaren smiled and said, "I thought you used the blaster pretty well."

"Yes, could I use that?" the doctor asked.

Egbert quickly replied. "Of course. The rest of our weapons won't be very effective as there armor is very resilient. You'll be a target for them, so be careful and spare your shots."

"Is there any javelins I could use?" Kalaren said.

"Yes, many have been saved for such an occasion! We'll meet up with Wilda, who will help me guard you two, and head to the old armory where we'll gear up."

As they made their way out of the old room, they found themselves in an old collapsed city, that stretched for as far as Kalaren could currently see. Granted, the taller buildings blocked a lot of his view, but he noticed as he looked up at them that they must have been very tall and imposing when they were first built. Now of course, the taller ones were lucky to be half of their original supposed height. As they jogged very quickly through the city, they heard Matheeas shouting out orders. Egbert was listening to them as they jogged. The air was very tense. So tense in fact, that Kalaren almost felt it in his bones. *'It's probably because of the fight we're heading into,'* Kalaren thought. After a while, Egberd relayed to Jellyfish and Kalaren what Matheeas had said.

"As soon as one rogue goes down, whoever is closest to his last location or can get to it safely the quickest, needs to grab his weapon. We are also going to have two catapults and a ballista with us."

Kalaren was confused at the mention of 'rogue', and stated so, to which Jellyfish explained that they would be the enemies and that there were different kinds of Paradox Rogues. This gave more questions than answers for Kalaren, but there was no time to ask any more.

Two thirds of the way there, they saw a lady running up. Egbert clarified who it was.

"Thats Wilda."

"Ok, I'm here, were going to be at the second line." She said.

"Got it." said Egbert.

They ran for a minute or so before reaching the 'armory'. It was actually an old stone foundation with three short pillars that held up a large tarp. As promised, there were many javelins, spears, swords, shields, axes and the blaster. As Jellyfish grabbed the blaster and Kalaren grabbed the three shortest javelins along with the lightest shield, Egbert and Wilda each grabbed a spear and shield. Soon afterwards they were charging to the north part of the city.

### Chapter 6: The Attack of the Ruins, and Establishment.

Kalaren, Jellyfish, Egbert, Wilda and the other rebels were hiding, waiting for the Paradox rogues who had arrived 1 minute ago to come within range. Earlier the scout who had first seen them did a head count. Four space marauders, Ten shinobis and a sorcerer. The scout reported that they all seemed on edge. He guessed it was because of the curse, and everyone agreed with him.

Now, as they had only *just* seen the sorcerer and the four marauders, they were getting worried. Out of the 52 total residents here, only thirty-two were able to fight. Of those 32, 15 were hidden amongst the few sparse buildings and various hunter's blinds near the north where the ten, now 15, enemies had been sighted. The others were elsewhere around the town, in case the patrols came from somewhere else.

Kalaren's heart was racing. *'Probably just like everybody elses,'* He thought.

They were almost upon them; Soon one of them would stumble on one of the blinds.

Then Matheeas gave the signal, a random yell. (No silly bird calls, this was Ankoria.) Then the the rogues were jumped on by the rebels! Kalaren rolled out from his blind and got into a proper javelin throwing position. He looked for a target. The rebels armed with swords and axes were on top of the marauders, but the sorcerer had managed to slip back! He was throwing spells all over the rebels!

He had to be defeated. Kalaren threw the javelin with his robotic arm, but over-shot it.

*'More power in this arm than I thought.'* he realized.

He threw again, and it went to far to the left. By now the sorcerer had become completely aware of him and the other six people who were throwing javelins, spears and lasers at him. Very quickly the sorcerer was smashed.

Was the battle over? the rebels that were on the marauders had smashed them, but what of the shinobis? They heard battle cries and yells coming from the eastern side of the city. Matheeas's face darkened as he beckoned Jellyfish and the other rebels who had picked up blaster weapons as they charged to reinforce that part of the city. The rest stayed and counted casualties.

"Four smashed, six injured... At least it isn't the massacre it could have been." said the scout from earlier. All too suddenly, the adrenaline of battle was replaced with sorrow for the fallen. Kalaren could feel it in the air, just as well as the tension had been there earlier. Everyone here was so tight-knit; Some were sobbing over the loss of the four that were smashed. Everyone hoped that the casualties wouldn't grow. All they could do was wait here at their posts. So they did.

Around fifteen minutes later, Matheeas alone came back. A portion of the people who were previously holding back the tears turned away at the sight of no one with him. Matheeas was quick to try to calm them.

"No, it isn't as bad as it looks, most of the others are still alive! The shinobis sneaked around and took over a ballista. They found heavy resistance, but they were able to dodge behind pillars and obstacles and get close. By the time we arrived there was only one or two enemies left. They did manage to hit George, who landed on Jellyfish." Kalaren froze for a second. He hadn't really got to know him, but he still liked the guy, even if he was kinda insane. His fears were stilled by Matheeas.

"George didn't make it, and neither did six others who were bolstering that part of the city, but Jellyfish is in the apothecary and is recovering. everyone who wasn't in the battle rushed away before the shinobis arrived."

"Eleven smashed, seven injured." Remarked a bitter Wilda.

For the rest of the day, they either bolstered their defenses or arranged plans for a large funeral. Kalaren would help with these things along with Egbert and Wilda who were constantly guarding them, and Jellyfish would quickly join them with a clean bill of health. Their was one time where there was enough help and all they could do was wait and talk, so Kalaren and Jellyfish asked questions.

"Where are we?" Kalaren queried.

"We aren't allowed to give information concerning our location. Sorry Kalaren" Egbert replied. But Jellyfish had another question.

"But what about the curse? Shouldn't the evil dragon have eaten us all by now?"

"Evil Dragon?!?!?" "There is no evil dragon!!!!!" Exclaimed Egbert.

Wilda started explaining to the doctor, as Kalaren listened. "The curse is that people slowly turn mean and hostile and generally evil! Luckily there was several books here explaining magic. Most of it being dark magic." She shuddered. "But the founders of this little rebellion found a spell which would negate the effects of the curse for a small radius. So one of the founders took up magic and learned most of the magic that wasn't dark magic. He took on an apprentice from the next generation, and so did the apprentice later on. and that went on for three generations. Over the years we've found other small ways to negate or weaken it. Take the patrol that found you, for example. They used a small talisman that was made by the previous mage." Wilda frowned. "But the latest enchanter hasn't taken up an apprentice, and is quite getting on in years. He has been getting forgetful and much less mobile."

Jellyfish by now seemed embarrassed, to say the least. He summoned the courage to ask one more question.

"On the way here, we were riding a animal covered in gray-brown fur, could you tell us about that?"

"Oh, them? Their mountain goats, much bigger than your average goat though. Very fast and strong. And before you ask, we don't know why they are like all that." Said Egbert.

Near the end of the day, they were walking around the city and Wilda and Egbert were pointing out people and places to Jellyfish and Kalaren, when Matheeas beckoned them over. They walked to meet him and hear what he had to say.

"I would like all of you in the command tent, were having a meeting and it discusses you two." He said while pointing to Kalaren and Jellyfish, and then to Wilda and Egbert while he said more.

"And you two have been guarding them all day."

"Yes sir! we'll be in the command tent shortly!"

"Thank you."

They walked to the command tent where people were seated around a table with a map of the area where Kalaren and Jellyfish were taken prisoner. There was a couple chambers in the tent which were closed off. Matheeas showed them to their seats and and the other people who were gathered around the table welcomed them. Matheeas, who was at the head of the table, stood up and started speaking.

"These two newcomers were found in the small forest to the west of Vladeks fort, and they brought destruction with them. We have gathered here to discuss whether we will harbor them, and defend against the several attacks that are bound to happen and lose many friends and family, or, could we deliver them to Vladek?" One of the officials sitting replied.

"As much as I would like to turn them in thinking it would stop the fighting, Vladek would be fully aware of us, if he isn't already, if we sent someone to turn them in. These two could rat us out and Vladek would either wipe us out anyway or integrate us into the general society. I believe the first seems most likely."

Matheeas nodded. "I thought that too, and if we had to fight a small war, i'd rather do it with two more soldiers."

"But do we really need two more mouths to feed?" Said a frustrated guest who stood up.

"Counting the two new mouths and the casualties, we will actually be feeding nine less." replied someone else in an even tone.

The minifigure who had stood up earlier sat down all the more angry.

"So, it's settled. Kalaren, Jellyfish, you can stay!"

"Thank you, sir!"

"Huzza- JELLYFISH!!! Excuse me..." Everyone jumped and stared at him before Kalaren explained.

"It happens when he doesn't have access to his sanity medication."

"Oookaaay then... We'll work on that..."

"Beggin' your pardon commander, but did this really require a meeting?" Egbert asked Matheeas, who shrugged.

"It really wasn't required, just wanted to do a formal meeting." Kalaren and Jellyfish each shook hands with Matheeas as they walked out of the tent, looking forward to a bright future.

Kalaren and Jellyfish were given a newly-made tent out of the available materials. Egbert and Wilda took turns guarding the outside. When the night came, Kalaren was glad that he could talk to Jellyfish privately.

"Doc, somethings been bugging me."

"Oh?"

"Right before we were attacked in the forest by the scouts, you mentioned something about 'this dimension', what did you mean by that?"

"Oh, you didn't know? I was under the impression you did."

"Nope."

"Oh, well, no matter! I'll tell you. Based off of what he told me and my colleagues in science, Vladek went to your dimension with some sort of machine, and wrecked your dimensions sense of time-"

"So thats what did it!"

"Please don't interrupt."

"Sorry."

"As I was saying, He stayed there a while trying to find someone who he thought would be a good general, someone he could confide in. After he had selected you, he went in under the guise of a swordsman looking to get a new sword from your father."

Kalaren felt a wave of emotion go through him at the mention of his father, but managed to contain it.

"He said your father was reluctant to take the job, even though he promised a handsome price, because he had many jobs already and if he canceled one he was afraid he might lose some customers. Eventually he convinced your father to make him a very high quality sword, one that was magic. Once he received it, Vlads said that was when he captured you when your father was busy and there was no onlookers. Obviously this is inaccurate, as you've told me otherwise. As he turned on his machine that would let him travel back, he tried to use the sword on a empty box he had. He soon realized that the blacksmith had tricked him, and upon further inspection, that only someone from your bloodline could use it."

Kalaren realized what had transpired. Vladek had cloned him so he could use the sword! He had to tell Matheeas.

He ran out of the tent explaining to Egbert there was an emergency. Jellyfish followed them to Matheeas, and Kalaren explained to Matheeas who sighed.

"We can't do anything about that now. We don't have the soldiers and even if we did they are low on morale. Thank you for alerting me."

So Kalaren and Jellyfish slept that night knowing that their future wasn't quite as hopeful as they thought.

### Epilouge

For the first few weeks of their stay, the other residents resented them for bringing trouble, but slowly began to trust and forgive Kalaren and Jellyfish. For the next month there was the occasional raid against the town, varying in size from squad to twenty troops. The clone never arrived. But the rebels were able to defend and prepare well enough and managed to survive. But at the end of the month, they stopped coming. No one worried about 'why', only too glad to be rid of them. They held a celebration feast for the occasion. After a long period of time the rebels decided they could tell Kalaren and Jellyfish where the base was located.

"We are in the City of Aragarth." Matheeas stated to them.

"Aragarth... What sort of a name is that?!" Jellyfish almost yelled.

"Yes, well, we're not sure. The founders of the rebellion were on the run and knew that the ruins here would be a great strategical position, and were right! They did run into a band of dark dwarves though. They managed to drive them out."

The enchanter that was keeping them from going crazy did eventually take on an apprentice, and the rebellion survived, and thrived.

> **The End.**
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