As I stepped out of the portal, I noticed three things:

One; I was smack dab in the middle of Discorded Equestria, cotton candy clouds, chocolate rain, the works.

Two; judging by the lack of bits of ponyville architecture, I was here at his reign of terror.

And Three, most importantly; I was five miles above ground.

“GOD DAMN IT JACE!” I quickly slenderwalked my way safely to the ground and found myself right behind Eris, Discords genderbent self who was thankfully too preoccupied torturing some old guy to notice me. ‘I should stop her… but how? If I attack her directly, she could just use the poor old guy as a shield, or dodge it all together… and I don’t think she’d take me as lightly as an Element of Harmony, I look too threatening for that...’

I then felt another rush of information as I remembered something, just like before with the armored form, I saw it like a video being played in my head…

There was a battle between Twilight and Trixie, Trixie was wearing the Alicorn Amulet and was using more and more destructive magic, whereas Twilight was just trying to keep her friends safe, her shield was cracking more and more with each spell cast, until it was barely standing. I slenderwalked in front of her and raised my arms in a protective manner, letting my desire to stop this fight wash over me, TV static then enveloped my hands as I let them reach out to the amulet, cutting off the magic at the source. “You… WILL NOT HURT THEM!”

I then came back to reality, feeling the knowledge fill my mind ‘Auric powers, huh? Let’s hope this works…’ I focused on my hands as I felt the TV static envelop them, then I focused on Eris and let the aura wash over her. To be fair, she did stop. Only… she just fell asleep, I guess I’m not strong enough yet to do anything else? Anyway, I slenderwalked to the elderly gentleman and picked him up whispering quietly into his ear “Don’t worry, I’m here to help.”

The old man, who I now realised was an anthropomorphic pony, looked to me in awe “You? I… I thought you were but a myth!” Thankfully, I had slenderwalked us to outside Discords, or is it Eris, range of hearing. Also, I was weirded out by this... not only that they have stories of something like me in the world of Equestria, but that the strange sense of Deja Vu was growing stronger, like a link was forming of some kind...

It was then that I realised just who I was carrying, the ponification of Merlin himself, Starswirl the Bearded, his clothes were tattered, and his hat was missing, but still, the gray coat and golden yellow eyes were unmistakable. I set him down and sighed “Let’s just get this out of the way, I’m probably not what you think I am.”

Starswirl nodded and, with a flash of his horn, teleported us to what looked like the old castle from the series pilot, only… it was not ruined. It had banners all over, and stained glass windows decorated the walls. I whistled lowly as I looked around “Nice place.” I then noticed something that, while answering one of the questions in my mind, raised many more. There was a plaque at the front door, designating this place as ‘Everfree Academy’ I looked to Starswirl and pointed dumbly to the plaque “There isn’t an Everfree Forest?”

Starswirl shook his head slowly “No, should there be?”

I shook my head quickly “No, no, but I was pretty sure… nevermind.” I looked around outside to see that we were in a courtyard of some kind, with various plants growing in well pruned planters. “So… why are we here?”

Starswirl sighed and gestured for me to follow as we walked through the front hall, hundreds of ponies lining the halls, huddling together in fear. “Be at peace my students, he is with me.” The students relaxed a bit, still holding their gaze at the door, as if anticipating some horrid monster to bust through the doors at any moment. I looked to Starswirl and he sighed again “They are on guard duty, protecting the school from corrupted ponies…”

I nodded and looked to Starswirl “So why are we here, Starswirl? Shouldn’t you be... oh I don’t know… Hiding?”

Starswirl shook his head “As the headmaster of this school, the safety of its students are my responsibility. Now that reasoning with my daughter has failed, I am afraid that we must take drastic measures.” He then paused and looked at me in shock “How did you know my name?”

I shrugged and tapped my head “I dunno, just have a knack for guessing names.”

Starswirl looked to me curiously, stroking his beard “Well, at least you aren’t using the latest monicker my trouble students have come up with. ‘Starswirl the bearded’ Bah! I am glad that won’t catch on!”

I cleared my throat in an attempt to quell my laughter “Yes...erm… good, that.”

Starswirl then looked to me curiously “You act as if you know something I do not… curious, as I can tell you are newly arrived to this plane of reality, you practically reek of the void.”

I looked to Starswirl uncomfortably “Yeah… let’s just say I saw a world similar to this one, and leave it at that, it would be best if I do not divulge that much.”

Starswirl sighed and took my hand, escorting me to what looked like a lecture hall, with 45 different people in the room, there were beings whose race I recognized, like Minotaurs, Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth ponies and Griffons, but… there were also other creatures there, such as what looked like severely mutated Diamond Dogs, Satyrs with glowing blood red cat eyes, scorpion tales, blue markings on their arms and ram horns, some anthro Deer, and some Kirin anthros too…

One by one, the Deer spotted me and gasped, dropping to their knees and praying as they saw me, a green mist leaving their antlers and exiting a window, I didn’t quite catch all of it, but it was regarding two such individuals, ‘Father Ash’ and ‘Mother Birch’. I looked to Starswirl and gestured to the Deer “What’s up with these guys?”

Starswirl walked over to me and whispered where my ears would be if I was a pony. “They think you are the final, immortal reincarnation of Father Ash, you wear his exact clothing, and have the same aura. They have been waiting a hundred years for him to appear.”

I nodded and let them pray, as I saw no harm in it, but what really caught my attention was the massive machine in the center of the room. It had the appearance of a sphere within a tesseract cube, the whole thing was floating about five feet off of the ground and was in a state of constant motion, the sphere however never leaving the center and seeming to twitch like a glitching program.

I looked to Starswirl and pointed to the strange shiny metal object “What is it?”

Starswirl smiled “This, is the coup de grace of this learning establishment, the way we will save this world, while dooming ourselves…We call it the Nyx Cube.”

The individual that seemed to be the leader of the strange Diamond Dogs looked to Starswirl and sighed “You know, as high lord of the Gremlins, I should encourage that you sacrifice yourself to stop what you made… but as your friend? I cannot… I can’t let you do this.”

I looked to the little guy and raised my hand “Umm, yeah, question, what exactly IS this?”

The minotaur smiled warmly “We are going to gift you with our magic and life force to combat and contain Eris until The Celestial Avatars can use the Elements of Harmony on her.”

I looked to all of them in abject horror “But… That will kill you, won’t it?”

The Satyr things group leader nodded “Yeah, but we’ve all had our part in making this monster, we Nefereldi-kara arguably more than most in the supplying of magic for making him…”

The Small D-Dog things leader then growled “I refuse to just stand by and let Eris destroy my people's homeland, but this? This is suicide!”

Starswirl raised a hand and everyone looked to him “I know that this must unsettle all of you, and Praximus, my old friend, I know that you can’t take part in this, as the Gremlin people need you. But we made this monstrosity, you must understand that it is our responsibility to fix this.” He then looked to me “And you, my new friend, we need your resilient body to act as a vestige of our magic, please,take this amulet and let us give you the power to stop her, if we do not stop her, we will all be as good as dead by year's end anyway.”

I was prepared to adamantly refuse, but… then I looked to the people who gathered themselves here, they seemed to be determined to stop Discord, Eris… whatever, yet they were resigned to this fate, I could tell that they exhausted every option in an attempt to stop this madness. “You have no alternative to stop her, do you?”

Starswirl shook his head “No, we have tried everything to stop her…”

I sighed and grabbed the amulet. “Okay… I’ll do it, but I do not like it at all.” I then looked to them all and was immediately filled with remorse, knowing that most of them would die. I put on the amulet, a white gem laid inside a miniature tesseract cube.

Starswirl looked to Praximus sadly “Please, evacuate the school, old friend.” Praximus nodded and left the room as they all began to focus their attention on the Nyx Cube, a veritable rainbow of magical auras and life forces began to pour out of them, and as the orb in the center filled with a glowing golden liquid, the wizards, one by one, fell dead from the drain on their bodies, left as nothing but empty husks.

I then looked to the orb and the magic began to fill me, the glowing gold liquid shooting out of the orb and straight into me, filling me with power. I could feel their knowledge, their thoughts, fill my mind. I felt their fear of death, but stronger than that, I felt their sheer determination to protect their homelands from Discord, their love for their families that would be tormented if I failed to stop Discord. I saw the fears, the ambitions, the friends and family of these wonderful people…and I knew that thanks to Discord, they would never see them again.

I shifted to my combat form, my armor now radiating the static aura. I drew my scythe as it shifted into my sword, it’s blade now aflame with my TV static aura.

I slenderwalked to Eris and found her fighting the Royal Pony Sisters, laughing maniacally as she toyed with them. I I ripped my mouth open with my hand as I roared a sky piercing battle-cry. “ERIS! I have come for you!”

Eris turned to me and smiled arrogantly “Oh, I am so scared! What are you going to do, burn me? I am all powerful! Your magic has nothing on me!” She snapped her finger and his magic came hurtling at me, only to fizzle and die upon reaching me. “What?! Th-that is impossible! I am chaos incarnate!”

I smiled and licked my pitch black teeth “I am going to enjoy making you suffer for their deaths.”

I slenderwalked behind her and backhanded her hard enough to send her flying to my right, to which I slenderwalked into her way and uppercutted her with the hand guard of my sword acting like a pair of brass knuckles. As she went into the air, I slashed my sword at her, sending an arc of TV static flame after her. “It is your fault they had to die!”

As Eris went flying into the air she righted herself and somehow grabbed the arc of flame, turning it into a sword of her own with her magic.“What are you talking about!? I might mess with people, but I never killed anyone!” She then proceeded to leap off of mid air at me and slash out with her sword, which I slenderwalked out of the way of.

I laughed and bashed her on the horn hard enough to crack it “You never thought of how people would react? Of what people would give to save their homes and loved ones from being your torment? You are a fool!”

Eris then paused, as if she was seeing me, really seeing me, for the first time. “What are you?”

I grabbed her wings and broke them, eliciting a cry of pain. “Once, I was called Greg...Now? I am the Tall Prince, I am a being of darkness, and while I walk this crooked path, I will carve my way toward a brighter tomorrow. I hold the souls of 46 martyrs and 1 man who had his life taken from him, fused into one. I am your judge, and you?” I pulled her close and whispered in her ear, my voice dripping with venom. “You are guilty!”

I headbutted her, knocking her unconscious as I threw her to the sisters hooves who watched all that slacked-jawed. “Take care of her, she sickens me.”

The two of them looked to me in shock before Celestia spoke “What manner of creature are you?”

I sighed and looked her in the eyes “I’m me, and I oppose beings like Eris, and that is all you need to know.”

Luna then nodded and fired up her half of the elements as Celestia looked to her sister questioningly, to which Luna shrugged “What? I can tell he’s telling the truth, and that is all that I need right now.” She then looked to me again “But I will want to know more later.”

I nodded and saw Celestia fire up her elements as well, the sisters firing the beam of pure harmonic magic at Eris, turning her to stone. What I did not see coming, however, was the beam coming straight for me afterwards, the beam didn’t turn me to stone, but it did lock something away, some part of me that I knew not the purpose of, as soon as the beam stopped, I fell to my knees, exhausted beyond measure, I heard an explosion, and screaming...so… so tired...sleep…

“Get up, Greg, I have much to tell you.”

I opened my eyes and looked around to see I was in what looked like a dead forest enveloped by fog “Wh-where am I? Who are you? What’s going on!?”

I looked around as the sound of footsteps neared and saw an older looking version of me, the REAL me, approach. I was wearing what looked like a metal suit with various runes etched on it and cables coming off of it, only to fade from my view due to the fog. He smiled, sadness evident in his eyes. “I am you, and you are me. ”

I looked to myself only to see that I was myself again as well, wearing a button up shirt, System of a down T-shirt, cargo pants and sneakers. “Wha? I’m… I’m-”

The older me shook his head “No. You are still a Slendersapien. This is but a dream that I have taken to talk to you and a few others in, they shall be arriving shortly.”

I looked to him grimly “What happened to you? Er… me?”

He sighed “Nothing I did not earn.” He smiled as more footsteps drew near “Ah, they approach, come, let us take a form they shall recognize, hmm?” He snapped his fingers and I was taken by a wave of TV static as we shifted back to our new bodies, only he was in his armored form.”There. Now to explain why I have gathered you all here.”

I nodded as I saw Jace and what looked like a character from league of legends whose name I could not remember, she looked very familiar for some reason… before I could say anything the lady looked green and ran off somewhere. The sounds of someone throwing up could be heard.

“Well that’s just lovely.” Jace said with a bored look. He looked at me. “Sup.”

The elder me laughed tiredly “Not a hello for your old teacher? I know it has been a long time, but still!”

Jace looked at him, then at me, then at him. “There’s two of you, great now this is going to give me a headache.”

Greg smiled “My time travel has always given you confusion...a shame I will not get to see you more after today.”

“One; it doesn't confuse me, it annoys me. And two; how am I here?” he asked.

I nodded and raised my hand “I was wondering that too! This is some doctor who level shit going on here!”

Elder me smiled at me “I have brought you here to give you a present,” he then turned to Jace, much sadder now “And to you, a farewell... you are all dreaming, and I, along with Praximus Vex, are anchoring your sleeping consciousnesses to this dream. My dream.”

Jace crossed his arms and tilted his head. “Out of everyone I have met, you’re probably the most confusing, and I met Chaos Incarnate.” his facial features softened as he looked at Elder me. “So this is our last goodbye huh.”

Elder me nodded “I am sorry, but… I am just so… tired.” he looked to Jace and smiled “I could not save my world because it was too late when I learned how to utilize my full power, so… I bought myself,” he gestured to me. “My earliest possible self, about a thousand years of time, though I did not expect the Elements to ricochet at me, and render that power boost useless. So I must go with plan B…”

“See, that’s the thing about plans, you always have a plan B because plan A almost always fails.” Jace said. Before anyone could say anything a rock came flying towards and hitting Jace in the head.

“You’re an ass you know.” The woman said as she came walking back.

Elder me nodded “Indeed he is. But you still love him as family, as do I.”

The woman looked at me then at Elder me and pointed at the both of us. “... What?”

“Don’t… ask… time travel… mumbo jumbo.” Jace groaned as he pick himself back up.

Elder me smiled at the girl “Fiesty as ever, young Taliyah How go things with your Twilight?”

“Good, she’s good.” she said. She shifted in place and blushed which made Jace raise an eyebrow.

I looked to Jace and whispered in his ear “What the hell is going on?”

Elder me laughed “What is happening is that I am ending myself. I am giving you, my earliest self, all of my self. I don’t care what happens to my timeline, and neither does Prax, we have lost everything, and there is no way to get it back. So… I must stop it from ever happening.”

“Uhh… what?” Taliyah asked. Jace dropped his head and sighed.

“I’ll explain later but first.” he looks at Elder me. “You sure this would work? You may change some things but fate will throw curve balls.”

Elder me nodded “I have spoken with Prax, he has worked out the science. I can’t let Twilight, and my beloved family, die again. Not Holly, not even Bob.”

Jace's expression didn’t change while Taliyah just looked confused. She opened her mouth but Jace covered it, shaking his head. “You know as much I talk about not messing with lady fate but you know what else I say about it.”

Elder me nodded with a smile. “I do old friend, very much so.”

“And that is?” I said. Jace looked at me and smiled.

“Screw it.” he said.

Elder me nodded and walked over to the two of them, giving them a gentle hug “Please look after me, I will need your help.” He then looked to me “Prepare for a hell of a headache when you wake up.”

“I will my friend, just know that I might know things that you may not know.” Jace said. Elder me tilted his head a bit as Jace waved his hand, a dark purple smoke came off his hand. “Things change that the timeline is hard to read.”

Elder me nodded and turned to me, dispelling his armor and walking toward me as his body crumbled away like rotting bark on a tree, until there was nought but an orb of TV static, which passed into my chest and immediately was absorbed into my body. “GAH! It… It hurts! My head, it’s like it’s splitting in half!” I grabbed it and fell to my knees, screaming in red hot agony as I felt as if a spike was being drove into my head. I then felt the pain recede and a flood of memories fill me, of battles, of friendships, of failures… I looked to jace and frowned “I… I remember… I taught you magic…”

“Yup, that was a long time ago.” he said as he looked around. I remembered that he always does that since he’s always paranoid.

“Okay, this is weird but there’s one thing I have to do…” she turned to me and a huge smiled appeared. “GREG! I MISSED YOU!” she then gave me a big hug.

I smiled subconsciously and hugged her back “I… I missed you too, I think? Memory is… hazy…”

I then felt a new presence in the dream, a massive, powerful presence that changed the very makeup of the dream around it. The trees came back to life, the fog receded, and sunlight began to warm us from above. “Greetings, visitors from the realm beyond. I greet you.”

I looked to the direction the voice came from, taking my sword out protectively. “What do you want? Show yourself!”

There was a pause, then laughter Warm and deep “I want to greet my latest incarnation, young voidwalker.” The trees parted as a large anthro stag walked through, he had snow white fur, with glowing blue spots and wore hunting furs as a cloak. He was armed with a spear of some sort, seemingly grown from white wood in the shape of a spear.

Jace put his arms down as he stared at the anthro stag and Taliyah backed away from me.

“And you are?” Jace asked.

The being smiled and gestured to his spear “I am Father Ash, named for my white coat. I am the God king of the Deer people, and eternal mate to Mother Birch.”

“Right…” Jace said without breaking eye contact.

“Question, you said latest incarnation.” She looked over at me. “You’re him and he’s you?”

Father Ash shook his head “No, I am but the first incarnation. Every incarnation is their own individual. I believe that there is an entertainment source from your world with a similar concept? What was it… The Avatar?” He nodded “Yes, that is it. We are like that.”

Taliyah still looked confused. Jace, not so much as he looked at her. “Think it like this, he’s the first tree that bears a single seed, when the tree dies the seed falls and grows anew but… different.”

Father Ash nodded “I am the first tree, every reincarnation is given the same title as homage to me, but every new incarnation of me brings a new age to the Deer people.”

I nodded, then paused “Wait, does that mean I have to have sex with a Doe?”

Father Ash looked to me in annoyance “Well, yes, but I would rather not discuss that here.”

“Oh gods why did you say that?” Taliyah said.

I looked to them all and made an X with my arms “Oh, nonononono! I am not making no time for that!”

Father Ash rose an eyebrow “And what, you would rather mate with your hand for all eternity? I am just saying, You could do worse than her, I have seen her latest incarnation, very capable in battle, and very attractive by common Human male standards.”

“Can we please move on! I don’t want to talk about mating stuff.” Jace yelled.

Father Ash shrugged “Anyway, you will lead the Deer to a new age. Along with the Gremlins and the Nefereldi-Kara, who are a part of their kingdom.”

“And… what are we going to do?” Taliyah asked as she is now sitting on the ground.

Father Ash shrugged “Whatever my new seedling wishes. You may just be passing advisors, summoned by him in times of need, or, if he asks and you agree, something more. Mayhaps even Generals and heads of the Guard. I know not what he will do, as I am not he, all I know is that he MUST rule, or The Deer people WILL die out..”

“Right…” Taliyah said. She looked over at Jace as he didn’t make any expression.

I sighed “I have no choice in this do I? Shit, I never even made it into public speaking in High School...Now I have to lead an entire kingdom… Shit, shit, SHIT!”

I began to panic a bit until I felt a hand on my arm. I turned to see Jace there.

“First off, calm down. Freaking out about this is not good.” he said. I stared at him and started to breath a bit. “Better?”

I nodded “Yeah, I… I guess I can try to do it… but… I don’t want to deal with snobs like that Blueblood prick.”

“Not all of them are pricks but know this, if you need help with this don’t be afraid to call on me.” Jace said.

“He’s right, he has more experience with leading a kingdom than you think.” Father Ash informed me. I saw Images through my head, a kingdom underneath a full moon when it’s snowing. It looked beautiful in a creepy way.

“You just remembered something, just know that most of the memories that you may know…” he paused for a moment. “I'll tell you later about your memories.”

“You know something about memories?” Taliyah asked him.

“I been reading and meeting people.” Jace answered.

“You, meeting others, oh I'm so proud of you!” she teased. Jace rolled his eyes at her.

I turned back the Father Ash. “Is there anything else?”

Father Ash shook his head “Not but to wish you luck, my young sapling, may you bring my people to glory.”

I looked to Jace and Taliyah and smiled “Hey, could you guys give me your tokens? I think I am going to need you guys pretty soon after I wake up.”

Jace flicked his wrist and a small bell appeared.

Taliyah just pulled out a small gold disk with something on it.

“Here you are, our tokens.” Jace said.

“Oh god I just realized that if we’re coming over then I’m going to be sick again.” Taliyah said. She slumped down a bit. “This sucks.”

I shrugged “Well, at least when you go through a portal, you arrive on the ground. I keep winding up in the air, falling.”

“Hey now, you’re not the only one.” Jace said.

I nodded to that, “I guess, but still, I have a feeling that every time I go through a portal something bad or otherwise unpleasant is going to happen to me.”

“That’s the life of a Displaced.” Jace said.

I nodded “But at least I can teleport out of harm's way, if need be...”I then paused a second, as a certain memory from future me became clear “Holy Shit, my siblings get displaced too.”

“Well I guess we’re going to meet them some time.” Jace said.

Father Ash looked highly uncomfortable “Er…one your siblings would not happen to be the one in prison for flirting with Rose, the latest incarnation of Mother Birch, would it? He was very… forward with her. After getting a few drinks in him, thankfully, so he is somewhat pardonable for his behavior.”

Jace looked at him for a moment then at Taliyah. She started to wave her hands in front of her. “Not me! Totally not me, I’m no tree lady.”

Father Ash nodded “Yes, she is very different in appearance from you.” He then realised what he said might be construed as an insult “Not to say you are unattractive, just...not that individuals type, from what I can tell.”

“Just saying it’s not me thank you.” she said.

Father Ash nodded as I looked to Taliyah “What even…. what is life right now, I am being told my brother sexually approached a deer lady that was sexy enough to make his radar go off. AND HE WAS DRUNK!? DAMN IT! I TOLD HIM NOT TO DRINK!”

“Just to point this out there, he said that he flirted with the latest incarnation of her but she could be anything other than a deer lady.” Jace pointed out.

Father Ash shook his head “No, Father Ash is the one who changes species, Mother Birch has, is, and always will be, a Doe.”

I facepalmed “So I can’t even flirt with Twilight after She becomes a princess?”

Father Ash thought a moment “Well, herds are acceptable in Deer society…”

“I know where this is going~” Taliyah said as she looked over to me. “Oh! I can hear them now, the wedding bells, the cheers, and the cake.”

“Gods you still do that?” Jace asked. Taliyah glared at him.

Father Ash looked confused “Wait… Cake can be heard? What manner of sorcery is this? Did someone put a balloon in the cake?”

I facepalmed and began to beg whatever almighty power that was looking over me “Please let me wake up…”

“I would like to wake up as well, so…” Jace walked towards me as his fist began to glow.

“What are you-” I got cut off by him punching me in the face

I woke up with a start as I looked around, only to see I was in a treehouse of some sort, not a house in a tree, but a tree that is a house, like Twilights. “What the hell?! Where am I, what is going on?!”

I then saw a Doe who looked extremely shy, she whimpered and mumbled something before going out the door, I then saw her come back in as some guards came with her. “H-hello… I’m supposed to escort you to the throne room… Please come with me…”

I then held up a hand before taking out Jace’s bell and ringing it experimentally “Ummm… Jace, you there?”

After a moment I saw dust and ash began to twist around. After a moment I saw Jace standing there rubbing his head a bit, the guards jumped and pointed spears at him.

“He wasn’t kidding about the headache.” he groaned. He looked at the guards. “Try it and see what will happen.”

The guards looked unintimidated by this, so I stepped in to try to alleviate the situation. “He’s with me, he’s my friend! No shish-kebobs today!”

“No yelling please, my head is pounding.” he said. He put his hand near his head as it began to glow. He sighed at this. “That’s better, so where are we?”

The shy doe timidly stepped out from behind the guards “H-hello, I’m C-clover, and I’m your guide to the Deer homeland of Truaskel, n-now home to the G-gremlin council and the l-lords of the Nefereldi-Kara as well.”

“Right.” Jace said as he looked around for a bit before bowing to her. “It’s an honor to meet you Clover.”

Clover blushed and waved her hands “N-no need to bow! I am b-but a simple servant!”

I nodded and smiled warmly. “Well, it is still a pleasure to meet you. Much nicer than the skewer squad behind you.”

“You haven’t met my guards.” Jace said. He looked at Clover and smiled. “Also you may be a simple servant, but it’s still an honor to meet you, everyone is.”

Clover smiled, hiding behind her hair, which had flowers braided into it. “Th-thank you… Sh-shall we go?”

I nodded and looked to the stony faced guards. “Will they follow?”

Clover nodded “Y-yes… they are security for you…”

I looked to her for a moment “Me? I just took down a goddess of chaos, and they think I need an armed escort? That’s funny”

Clover shyly smiled “It’s… kind of funny, I guess.”

“They also have to, you may be powerful, but there can be others more so.” Jace said.

I nodded “Good point, getting full of myself is a bad idea.” As we spoke, we exited the tree house to find that the house was, while significantly larger, just one of MANY similar homes. Firefly lanterns littered the sky above as we walked to a large stone fortress in the center of town, glowing runes, similar to the ones I saw on elder me, lined the walls as thorny brambles acted as a deterrent for those that would climb the walls. The entire building seemed to vibrate with mystical power. “Wow, nice digs.”

Clover nodded enthusiastically “Y-yes, this is the capital building of our empire, where the Gremlins and Nefereldi-Kara leaders live, alongside with our Queen, Mother Birch Rose.”

Jace looked around at the place, I notice that the place was somewhat reacting to him, I saw embers floating off him and there was an aura of power to him. He seemed calm as he looked around.

As I walked in, I felt a surge of power, as if I had just drank an espresso mixed with Five hour energy and red bull. I felt like I could take on anyone! “Wow, total rush!” I looked to Jace and patted him on the back “Dude, I feel amazing! How about you?”

“I feel fine, the magic doesn’t really affect me that much.” He looks over at Clover. “This magic is old, maybe as old as time itself, or am I close?”

Clover nodded “This castle was the birthplace of the first Mother Birch and Father Ash, they are said to strengthen those who mean us well, and weaken those who mean us harm, I have never heard of someone who was unaffected though… you must be indifferent, I guess.”

“Ancient magic vs ancient magic I guess, I know things and can do things that some beings see as as god like.” Jace said with a shrug. “I don’t mean harm by the way, it’s just interesting to find a place like this.”

I nodded “As a fan of magic, I agree, hell, I even theorized some stuff for my DnD group to do.”

Clover looked confused “What is DnD?”

I smiled “Old tabletop game, takes luck and strategy to make it in that game. I loved to play it so much...”

“How about we meet Mother Birch before she orders her guards to rip your brothers head off.” Jace said.

I nodded “Yeah, poor Bob, guy’s probably in deep shit, knowing him he’s just digging himself deeper.”

Clover looked to me in shock “You mean that pervert who said such incorrigible things to the queen is your brother?!”

I nodded “Yes, regrettably.”

Clover looked pale “We must stop the queen at once!”

I nodded and spread out my arms “I’ll handle this, I am supposed to be king, yes? Time for me to play the part.”

“You do that, I got to talk to someone.” Jace said as he stepped back. “See you there.”

I nodded and followed Clover to the throne room, just in time to see the guards walk in holding a man who looked strikingly like Jim Carrey from The Mask, except he had manacles on and was being dragged in by the arms. “I’m innocent I tell ya! Where’s my lawyer!?”

While the visage threw me for a loop, I could recognize that annoyingly upbeat male voice anywhere. “Bob?! That you?!”

Bob looked to me and gasped “Holy Shit, Greg?! What the bloody hell happened to yah?!”

The Guards looked to each other before dropping Bob and bowing to me. “Father Ash, we were simply about to sentence this perverted miscreant to life in jail for sexually assaulting Mother Birch Rose!”

I looked to the throne as the queen rose and saw possibly the most jaw dropping sight I had ever seen... This Doe was stunning, she had Endowments that put human women to shame, as in, she had the body that most women work their entire lives to get. I could honestly see why she got Bob to be so flirty. But… he would never… oh shit it’s his mask… “What brings you here so soon? From my scouts report, you were sent flying into a boulder by the Elements of Harmony right as the academy was destroyed by the destruction of the Nyx Cube.”

I cleared my throat, averting my eyes from her as I was having a hard time talking when I saw her. “I am here to protect my brother, who you have in chains right there.”

Rose looked to me in shock “You mean this wretch is related to you?”

I nodded “Regretfully so, I believe the magic he has been imbued with is tampering with his mind, removing his personal inhibitions.”

Rose looked to me and thought a moment “You truly believe this is the case? If so, we can surely have the Gremlins and Nefereldi-kara whip something up to alleviate this problem.”

I nodded at her. As I did I heard the doors open and saw Jace walking in with someone. The being was the same height as him and was wearing a brown cloak.

I looked to Jace as Bob slipped his hands out of the manacles, then somehow turned them into a balloon animal and handing it to Clover “There you are, for the pretty Doe!” He then looks to the Guard and flips them off in various ways, from american sign language to british, to chinese. The guards just looking confusedly to each other at this.

“Well that was… interesting.” Jace said. He looked at Rose and bowed as did the robed figure.

Bob then pulled a chair out of nowhere and sat down while enjoying what looked like a glass of milk. I quickly slapped that out of his hands, only able to guess what the cows looked like in this world. “No drinks for you, you are in trouble.” As Bob pouted, I looked to Jace and pointed at the robed figure “Who’s tall dark and mysterious?”

“Someone you have already met.” Jace said. The figure reached up and removed the hood. The figure had pale white skin and brown hair. Her eyes were a soft dark blue with… white scales around them? She smiled at me.

“Greetings, sorry for the robe, it’s for my own protection.” she said. I felt my body sway a bit, her voice is so soft and kind… I shook my head a bit.

I looked to her curiously “I feel like I know you… but yet I know we haven’t met yet…”

Bob looked to her curiously “Aren’t you that one lady from Dark Souls?”

The lady looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s not get into that. Greg, Lady Birch… Bob, this is Yorshka, advisor to the Lord of Ash and Cinder.” Jace announce. Yorshka bowed a bit with a kind smile.

Bob shrugged and bowed as well, until a very ugly monkey cymbal toy fell out of his pocket. “Bo jangles! Get back here!” he pounced at the monkey, only to trip and fall out a window, into the courtyard, to which I slenderwalked to him and brought his now 2D self in. “Look ma, I’m roadkill! HA!” he then put his thumb in his mouth and inflated himself back into 3D “Ah, now where were we?”

I smacked him upside the head “You interrupted the introduction of this nice lady here, shame on you.”

Rose looked rather confused at this, but decided to ignore Bob and instead looked to Yorshka “I greet you, may you find your visit here pleasant.”

“As always, Lady Birch.” She said.

Rose looked even more confused “You must have confused me for another, for we have never met…”

I raised my hand “I think I know what is going on, she’s from a future timeline, where she had already met you. To her you may be good friends already.”

“Or she met one of her incarnations from a long time ago.” Jace said. I looked at him as he shrugs. “Don’t question it.”

I shrugged “Either way, time travel.”

Rose sat down and rubbed her temples “And I thought Gremlin technology was annoying…”

“I know the feeling all too well.” Jace said.

Bob suddenly got excited “OOH! There’s time travel here?! IS THERE A DOCTOR WHO?!”

Rose looked to him “Who?”

Bob laughed “Exactly!”

“Right… so it seems that his head is still attached so that’s good.” Jace said.

I groaned “Define ‘good’.”

A Gremlin I recognized as Praximus came in and bowed before Rose “You called for me, my queen?”

Rose nodded “Have you the capability of bringing sanity back to this green faced man?”

Praximus nodded “I do indeed my queen. We have studied his blood and discovered that at the price of enhancing his power, we may be capable of stabilizing him mentally.”

“Well that’s interesting.” Jace said to him. “Is it by using machines or magic… or both?”

Praximus smiled “In classic Gremlin fashion, both of course. Our machines are made to use magic, amplify magic, and conduct magic.” He then took out a ring that was covered in blue circuitry lines, glowing with a faint magical aura. “Here we have one of my inventions, a magical regulator, it gives those with unstable magical energy better control. But with some remastering from deer magical signatures to his own…” he muttered under his breath as he took out tools from his belt and tinkered with the ring, turning it from blue to a bright shining green. “There! Put it on, Bob, and you’ll become perfectly sane.”

Bab smiled and grabbed it before looking at it “I don’t know, it clashes with my suit something awful…” I raised my hand in a backhand preparatory motion. “Ok, I’ll do it!” he slipped on the ring and was swept up in a spiral of green mist as laughter was heard, not his laughter, but the laughter of hundreds, joyous, uproarious laughter. Asthe mist parted, Bob looked around and smiled as tears ran down his still green face “I’m… I’m myself again…”

“And you're still green.” Jace commented.

Bob grabbed jace and began dancing around joyously “I don’t give a shit, I’m me again!”

They danced around for a minute before Jace stopped and looked at him. “Don’t do that ever again.”

Bob shrugged “Hey, at least I’m sane enough not to go cuban pete on you.” He then looked to Yorshka “So, why did you come with this guy here, he your romantic interest? Hmmm?”

Yorshka stared at him for a moment. “No.”

Bob shrugged. He then went up to her to get a closer look. “You know, you look cute up close, how about we-”

There was a loud gunshot and a blue ball then went straight at Yorksha, but Bob leapt in the way and it hit him instead. He looked around as he rose up with a hole in his side “Ya missed me, sucka!” He then grabbed some lemonade from thin air and drank it, the lemonade coming out of him like water from a siv “I guess not.” He then began to spin at high speed, only a twister visible where he went as he raced toward the source of the gunshot. He then came back and was carrying an assassin in a scruff of the neck hold “This joker here just tried to ice ya! Good thing I was there, or else your pretty cloak would be ruined!”

Jace looked at the assassin. “Now why did you go and do that?”

The Assassin sneered “I need not answer to foreign scum like you! The Deer were doing fine, but now there are foreigners ruining our home!”

I looked to him angrily before walking to him and opening my mouth to spit in his face “You are the scum here, with your heart full of hate! Now tell us who let you in so I may bring them to justice!”

The Deer scowled at me “And why would I answer to a disgraceful king such as yourself? Letting your breeding bitch-”

I smacked him hard enough to remove some teeth before grabbing him by the right horn “Listen closely, I have had a LONG day, and I will NOT tolerate someone treating such a beautiful young woman with such blatant disrespect!”

Rose blushed at my complement as the Stag grunted “You do not scare m-aaaaugh!”

I broke one of his horn tips off and smiled “Tell me, NOW! or else your death will be slow and agonizingly painful!”

The Stag whimpered “It was Agave, Agave of the noble house Oasis!”

I nodded and looked to Rose “You know where he is?”

Rose nodded “I will send guards to apprehend him shortly.”

I nodded and looked to Jace “I apologize for the treatment of your friend, I will see to it this filth is made an example of.”

This made Jace and Yorshka look at each other. Jace looked at me. “And what kind of example you thinking of?”

I smiled evilly “Easy, I will have it so he is publicly humiliated for a few days on end. Maybe put him in stocks and let people pay to throw produce at him.” My face then darkened “If I ever catch him trying this shit again though, he is dead.”

“Is that wise?” Yorshka asked. For someone who almost got shot she’s taking it calmly.

I nodded “Trying to assassinate key government officials should not be taken lightly, I know, but if I am not careful I could come off as a tyrant if I am too intense. Maybe I should add a few years in jail?”

“Years in jail, whatever really. It’s just… I dealt with tyrants and really you may look scary but you don’t act scary.” Jace said.

I smiled “I thank you. But still… public appearances are half the battle when it comes to politics.” I then looked to Bob while shaking the now unconscious Stag at him “What do you think? Years in jail paired with public humiliation, or just an execution?”

Bob thought a moment “Hmmm… ten years in jail, and public humiliation sounds good. Same for the Noble. But… if we find out the noble is responsible for more shady dealings, we execute him.”

Rose nodded to this “We have had to deal with his complaints for a long time, I will love not having to tolerate his idiocy any further.”

“Well this was an interesting development.” Jace said. He looked over at Yorshka. “What do you think?”

“It was… something.” she said.

Bob sighed “I really wish I wasn’t so crazy when I got here, I’ve… I’ve done some things I regret…”

“We all do, but if we don’t how will we learn?” Jace said.

Bob nodded and held out his hand to Jace “It was a pleasure meeting you. And your lady friend as well.” he then walked over to Rose and sighed, rubbing his head “I’m sorry for how I behaved, I was… I was not me…”

Rose smiled and shook his hand“Well, I would be quite the poor Queen of my people if I forsook my brother in law.”

Bob froze “Wat…” He turned to me and shouted “I tried to bed your wife?! I am so, so sorry!”

“Oh this is funny.” Jace said as he chuckles.

I facepalmed and then remembered a trick from Elder me, I walked over to Bob and placed my hand on his head before transmitting my conversation with Father Ash, Bob blushed as he looked at Rose and I nodded “Yeah, that’s going to happen, apparently.”

I looked to Rose and blushed before mumbling into jace and bob’s ears “It really doesn’t help that she’s got those… assets. I can’t look at her without blushing, and also, I have discovered I have a dick. So I must say this… She wants the dick!”

“Can you please not talk about that here, I have a vivid imagination and I don’t want to picture that.” Jace said to me.

Bob smiled and snickered “Sorry, thinking about Stare Dad.” he then looked at Rose, who was trying her best to not listen in “I feel rude…”

I nodded and sighed “Me too… But seriously, I hope she doesn’t expect anything too sudden from me…”

“I thought things are going to be different.” Jace said. “Say out of those memories, did the older you made any alliances with others outside your world?”

I thought a moment, grasping my head as I focused “Y-yeah…. A void dweller, his name is Nefereldi, he is the God king of the Nefereldi Kara, looks like a more bestial version of them…” I then focused some more “A-and… The I can't remember any more…”

“Right, I guess other than the one you didn’t make any other world alliances.” Jace said.

I shook my head as I felt like there were blockages in my head “I think those Elements of Harmony fucked with my head too… I feel like something inside me got locked away when their beam hit me…”

“I see, so right now we’re standing in your kingdom correct?” Jace asked as he looked around in the room.

I nodded “Yeah… but… I feel like there are supposed to be more allies than just you, me, Taliyah and Bob in this alliance. I think we’re missing someone…”

“More allies, well I don’t know what’s up with my sister but there’s one thing that you and maybe Lady Birch might need to do.” Jace said with a smile.

I looked to Jace “If you say each other I swear to god I will smack you.”

Jace blinked at me and facepalmed. “No, I mean make an alliance with me damn it.”

I then paused, I’d say I blinked, but i’d be lying. “Ok, how do I do that, do I sign something, or...what?”

“Not going to ask what I mean?” Jace asked raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head “Nope, Way I see it, if it helps you, or it helps me, it can’t be bad. But i guess it would help to know what an alliance is for a displaced.”

“I think you’re missing the point, when I mean alliance I mean one between kingdoms.” Jace said. Yorshka stepped up beside him.

Praximus then walked in again and looked around “What? Did I miss another fight? Damn, wanted to try out some new weapons.”

I smiled “I feel you may want to stay for this, we may need you.”

“Yeah, you might get a kick out of this.” Jace said. He then turned his head a bit. “Alright, you can drop them.”

I looked at Bob for a moment before I notice a shimmer from near the two. Three beings appeared behind Jace and Yorshka.

“Remember when I said that Yorshka was the advisor to the Lord of Ash and Cinder?” Jace said as Praximus was rapidly noting down what I think were the magical details of the armor these individuals wore.

I nodded. “Yeah? Who is he anyway? Your dad? I remember you talking about a dad at the Gala…”

Jace shifted a bit and looked at me and Mother Birch, who just now walked up beside me. “Allow me to introduce, and re-introduce, myself; I’m Jace Belaguard, one of the Headhunters in my world,” he smiled a bit. “And Lord of Ash and Cinder of the Boreal Valley, it’s a pleasure to meet you two.”

I froze as I realized I threatened to strike a fellow king “Thank you for not taking offense to my actions.”

“Ba, don’t worry about it. The Captain of the guard back home keeps threatening me that she would kick my ass in a fight.” Jace said with a chuckle.

Praximus, who was completely exuberant, grabbed me by the shoulders “Do you know what I could do if I got to analyze these suits of armor?! This could revolutionize our technology! Forget the Deer thinking we and our Nefereldi-Kara brothers are inferior, we could become their equals with this!”

I looked to Jace and pointed at one of the guards “You think he could analyze a suit of armor?”

“How about meeting one of the smiths that built them, you see one of the things about this alliance is trading, I have a means to do that by the way, and I one of the things we can trade is technology.” He rubbed the back of his head a bit. “You see we are still learning a bit on making magic and tech play nice, some of our sensors work like that but haven’t progressed a lot. So here’s my thought you help with making them play nice and we’ll get some suits to analyze, not right away though, gotta start small like farming and building then after that the big toys.”

I looked at Praximus, who was literally on his hands and knees at my feet and begging, then to Rose, who also looked like she approved of this, and smiled “Sure! I can’t think of a better deal, do you have anything to add, Praximus?”

Praximus nodded “How about a give and take? If we give you something that revolutionizes your tech, you give us something good too? While Armor has been giving us trouble, we have nigh perfected manonic rifles and pistols, as well as the secrets of the Quantum Key.”

I looked to Praximus curiously “I can guess what Manonic guns are, but what’s a Quantum Key?”

Praximus smiled “One of my greatest inventions, a key that makes any door lead anywhere you want, a backyard door leading to your front yard? Sure, just step through. A door down the hall leading to the remains of everfree academy? Sure. You just have to of been there.”

“My lord, that could be something that could help with the Rift technology we been developing.” Yorshka said to Jace.

“Yeah that could…” he looked at Praximus. “You and Vic will become great friends.”

Prax smiled “As long as he treats me as an equal, I will definitely call him a friend.”

“Trust me, he will as long as you do the same for him.” his face darkened a bit. “His race… hasn’t had the greatest relationship with others.”

Prax smiled even wider, his sharp teeth gleaming “Trust me, we Gremlins know that all too well, hell, the ponies stole our homeland from us, and then the Diamond Dogs enslaved us for generations on end. We used to look more like lizards than this. Now we… now we are but pale echoes of our past selves.”

Jace nodded as one of his guards stepped forward. He blinked and snorted. “Of course he did. Well you might meet him sooner then I thought.”

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“Vic is one of the greatest engineers in the Boreal Valley but he’s not from my world, you see one of the things about my world is that there’s a bit of a rift problem that we’re working on. One of the other alliances I’m with helped with the problem but they still keep opening all over. One said rift brought Vic, and his people are… well you’ll see since Vic is a bit of a curious mind to this sort of thing.”

I nodded slowly “He stowed away didn’t he?”

“Not really, out of everyone that knows about Rifts he’s knows it like the back of his hand.” Jace said. With that said I started to hear thuds coming closer towards us.

Bob looked around as he sighed “I see where this is going, and I like it!”

The thuds kept getting louder and closer towards us. I saw the deer guards tense up and hold out their weapons. After a moment the thuds stopped and then knocking.

“He’s also really polite.” Jace commented.

Bob walked calmly to the door and smiled “Is this the fabled Vic I have heard so much about? Well it’s nice to meet… whoa.”

I looked over and saw Vic. Whoa indeed.

The man wore a suit of armor from head to toe. A weird glowing thing was behind his head that glowed red as he looked around. Some jets of steam came out of him as he stood there.

“Umm you have to let him in, again very polite.” Jace said.

I nodded to Bob, who held out his hand to Vic “A pleasure to meetcha! Please, come in and make yerself comfy, or don’t, whichever you’d prefer, really.”

The man Vic looked at Bob as he stepped in. He stopped in front of him to stare at him then went back to walking. When he was up close I saw that the eye holes of his mask didn’t show eyes, only that same red glow.

“You are the leader of this kingdom?” he asked. His voice was deep and sounds like it came out of a voice box.

I nodded “Yes, and the man you just met was my brother, I know not if you were offended by his sudden informality, so I apologize, he just likes to make those around him happy, often at his own behest. This,” I gestured to Rose “Is the Queen and my Co-ruler.” I then gestured to Prax and smiled “And this is Praximus Vex, whom I think is eager to meet you.”

Vic turned to look at him. He stared for a moment then went to tap on something on his wrist. The glow from both his eyes and lamp thing died down as he looked a bit closer.

“Is the light not bugging you sir?” he asked.

Prax smiled warmly “I appreciate your concern, good sir. But… is the glow something you need for comfort? I have light muffling goggles on my belt satchel if need be. You are the guest here, your comfort is more important than this old mans. Besides, adjusting to the light is something we Gremlins must do.”

I smiled and placed a hand on Bob’s shoulder, as he was pouting a little “I just wanted to give him a warm welcome…”

I smiled and laughed “I know, and I am sure he appreciates it.”

“As you may say sir, I for one don’t want to be a burden, and it’s a simple adjustment for my suit to block some of my bodies glow. My scans read that your race has been in the underdark for most of your lives so your eyes are very sensitive to light base sources.” Vic said. I looked at Jace.

“He… blocked some of his bodies light?” I asked him. Vic turned to me.

“Yes, my suit has many functions to it such as a scanner to read other life forms.” He turned to Bob. “You also did have a nice warm welcome sir, it’s was nice.”

Bob smiled and walked over to Vic, giving him a gentle hug “Yer real nice, ya know that? I can’t believe that you were treated so poorly.”

Vic shifted a bit. “Yes… being slaves… not a good way to be treated.”

Prax bristled at this “You were what? Do you know where they are? I will blast those bastards to kingdom come!” He pulled out what looked like a rifle with a crystal laid in the butt of the rifle.

“Unless you have a way to go into the afterlife then you can’t do that sir. Me and my people, what is left of them that is, turned our homeworld into a black hole to finish them off.” Vic said.

Prax stared at him.”I am sorry, I can only say that… I know what it is like to be a slave, and I know what it is like to lose your home…”

“This might sound rude and I do apologize if it is but I don’t want your sympathy, we did what we did to achieve freedom for our race.” He tilted his head, another jet of steam shot out. “It did also give us immortality for it as well so… that’s a plus?”

Prax paled for a moment “I… I need to have a moment. The possibilities… I could have a friend, friends, that will not age and die around me?” He began to tear up as he looked to Vic “I thought that I would spend eternity alone…” he laughed “I guess it was a good idea to destroy the serum and its formula after all...”

“Question, how did you get your immortality?” Bob asked. Vic turned to him.

“Uhh Vic, short version.” Jace quickly said.

“Right, well my race was known to be one of the best builders across the worlds around us, one our greatest achievements was the Soulforge, something that would put a living soul from a body into an object. When we were enslaved we came up with a plan which was destroying our world but our rift tech we used wasn’t up to date and there was a 65% chance that we would turn to ash. So we turned to the Soulforge and pulled our souls out of our bodies and put them into suits.” he pointed at the thing on his back. “This and my suit is really my body, we turned into beings of pure energy but they were also very dangerous because a un-sealed soul is equal to an energy bomb that can take out anything within a 50 mile radius. It was also painful.”

Prax nodded “I tried to go that way first, but the Diamond Dogs destroyed anything that was not mining equipment or medicine, so I had to create a serum that gave me an immortal body, I decided that if I was going to refuse work by nullifying their death threats, than I should do the same for my people.” He sighed “Sadly, when I caused the cave in of the Diamond dogs caves, it also destroyed my lab. So instead, I decided to fight them… I suffered wound after agonizing, crippling wound. Eventually I wiped out the entire warren and freed what remained of my people, who then went to the Deer for sanctuary, and here we are now.”

Vic turned to him and offer out his hand. “Well, let's build to a brighter future for ourselves sir.”

Praximus nodded and smiled, shaking his hand in turn “You ever have need of our tech, than just ask. We could also probably make some heavier guns for your stronger frames… if you’d like. Tell me, how fond of explosives are you?”

“I been hit with some in testing, their interesting.” Vic said.

Praximus nodded “How would you feel about a manonic grenade launcher? Or rather… a gun that fired extremely concentrated orbs of magical energy that explode in a pre decided elemental burst?”

“For the launcher.” his hand let out some steam and started to shifted into something that looked like a grenade launcher. “Have that covered but something that shoots out magical energy, that’s interesting. The ring on Bob, though very simple in design, is very impressive. I would love to see what else you have in blueprints.”

Praximus smiled and cackled “I have over a thousand years worth of work to show, it’s only a matter of materials and funding, m’boy!” He then sighed “If it weren’t for those thrice damned elements of harmony, I’d show you my Nyx Cube invention, but all I can show you now is the blueprints.” He then grabbed some blueprints from his bag and showed them to him “From what I understand, it works on a basis similar to your soul forge, but it just feeds the life and soul of one being to another. I intended for it to be a way to execute criminals and empower their victims, or outstanding members of the community.”

Vic looked at the blueprints for sometime. “This is very much like the Soulforge, it’s idea was based on a metal that was dubbed ‘Vampiric ore’.” he did some air quotes at the word. “It feeds on one being's life force. The slavers use weapons to drain our life if we disobeyed, although when we got our new bodies the metal had no effect on us since we were something other than lifeforce. As for materials, we have also learned to change one substance into something useable. It was a skill learned from an accident.”
They continued on talking as Jace walked over to me. “See, fast friends.”

I nodded and smiled “I never doubted you.”

“Well, as much as I like to stick around, I do have to returned home, I have a workshop to run and stuff. Yorshka will stay and get everything in order.” Jace said to me.

Bob looked confused as he listened to the two scientist magi. “Ok, my head hurts…”

“Right… try not to go into it that much, I been around his race for some time yet even I don't know what they talk about.” Jace said.

I smiled and nodded “I wonder if my theory on Golems works here…since there is magic to fuel it.”

“One way to find out I guess, anyway if you have questions better ask them now.” Jace said.

I nodded “Yeah, I have one, if we are forming an alliance, shouldn’t we make a way for our subjects to interact with each other? Like, a way to travel to and from between the two?”

Prax looked to me and smiled “I do have one blueprint that could help, I call it a Quornot Grosha, it is Gremlish for Dimension Gate. We often use it to send messages to our gremlin brothers across the stars by setting the message in a pocket dimension and linking it to another gate… if I could get a simple object to use as a focus, most preferably a crystal of some kind, or remains of a living creature native to the realm, I can modify it to link up to the dimension you call home instead. Honestly, the best choice would be dragon bone, as they have a high crystal diet.”Jace thought about it and pulled out a scale.

“Here, it may not be a bone but it's close to the same thing.”

Prax nodded “Yes, this will work nicely, just have to be careful with the edges… don’t want to cut anything important in the machine…maybe a clamp instead of wire mesh feedthrough….” He walked toward a table and began scribbling on a blueprint “There! Give me about two days and I’ll have the gate built!”

I looked to him in shock “Two days?!”

Prax nodded “I know, too long, but I need to make sure that these rifts won’t spread to our realm, as well as make sure it has a good capacity.”

I shook my head “No, that is really quick! How can you work so fast?!”

Prax laughed “Gremlins are nocturnal naturally, the serum I used removed my need for sleep, and I also work with the Nefereldi-Kara during the day.”

“I can help with making sure no rifts appear in this world, with luck we can get it done sooner but tests would be useful for safety.” Vic said.

Prax nodded “Heh, you have no idea how often I have to teach that to the younglings, they just get so excited when they invent something new, or improve upon a design… it is quite inspiring to see their vigor for invention, really.”

Bob then thought a moment “You know, a moment like this should be celebrated, an alliance being formed between two kingdoms is a momentous occurrence.”

“You all can do that, I still need to head back so…” Jace puts his hand out. “Hope this alliance will make the future a bit brighter.”