Part three: Amicus verus rara avis est

„This was much better than our last dinner, Ryu," Said Aisha looking every bit as seductive as a cat-girl could. Needless to say I couldn't agree with her more – this time I wasn't transported to the realms of the Grim Reaper in the middle of it, wasn't informed that my life is in danger, not to mention the fact that last time I was also overwhelmed with information, and the best part – Aisha was happy.

"Speaking of past actions, I would like to resume our search for Lore as soon as we get home."

"Don't forget the fact that a lot of manpower is applied at the moment to find your sister."

"I'm not forgetting it; it is just that I feel we need godpower to locate her."

"I guess it must be some sort of a brother-sister thing..."

When we finally got home I sat down by the computer and started checking all the info I could locate on Lore. It was obvious that she had made her "legend" with the expertise of a master that no one on earth could compete with.

Even though I wasn't sleepy, I decided to give it a rest after eleven hours of non-stop searching. I went outside to breathe a little bit of fresh air and cool down my mind before it had reached boiling point.

"I see you have finally decided that suicide via over exhaustion isn't befitting the likes of you," Aisha grinned at me.

"Well, I would have continued had I not thought about you and decided that it was indeed not the right choice of action," I said, failing miserably at trying to make a cool comeback.

"Well, then you need some exercise and perhaps a good swim… shall we jog to the sea and take a dip there?"

"I do see some reasoning in your words and my bones need all the stretching they can get."

"Let's get going then!"

"Ryu! Wake up!"

"Huh? What happened?"

"You're OK!"

"I think so… but what the hell happened?"

"I don't know myself… we were running and the next thing I know I am here and you are looking pretty bad."

"I don't like this…"

"I see you are finally awake," a very familiar voice said to us.

"Where are we and what do you want of us?" I inquired trying to sound confident.

"Why you should know that already my friend! I feel disappointed. You I just want to get rid of and as for your little kitten… I have a personal score to settle with her!"

"Xaa! If you do anything to us, you will pay dearly!"

"And how do you intend to do anything while trapped here and your powers carefully sealed?"

I could only growl in response to that.

"Now let us begin our little pleasure ride, shall we?"

"Whatever, as long as you shut up!"

"Not a good way to talk to someone who has your life in her hand… but it wouldn't make any difference even if you'd flatter me." And with those words she pulled out some sort of a device out of thin air and pointed it at Aisha. "Let us begin with the kitten so you could enjoy yourself a little before I start "working" on you." Right as she said that she pushed a button on the device and it started emitting a blue light. Without giving it any thought I jumped, blocking the light's way to Aisha.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Ryu," Xaa said in a mock-concerned voice.

"It would be a bad choice to do that, this machine I made especially for your dear kitty. It is supposed to drain her soul, but as for you… it will be the most dreadful pain that anyone can ever feel for it will slice up your soul and never let you go until I think you have had enough," having said that Xaa teleported to the other side of the cage we were being held in and fired her weapon at Aisha. with only one thought on my mind I jumped in front of Aisha and got struck by the light…

"RYU!"

"He always was a romantic fool," Xaa said as she was observing me, as I was lying on the floor and screaming.

"Stop it! You'll kill him!"

"Foolish kitten, I told you that this weapon can't kill him, in fact nothing can "kill" him. I plan to drain him of all his powers and imprison him for eternity! I am just going to enjoy myself for a while before I let you experience his agony."

I found my self in a dark hallway. The walls shone with a faint glow and seemed to be pleading for salvation. Behind me – a stairway that looked as if it was going straight to the end of all existence. If it could show any emotions I am certain it would be laughing an insane laugh at the futility of trying to climb it.

In front of me the corridor that emitted such despair that it made it seem as though there was no end to it. I decided to go for the corridor but as I made the first few steps a glimmer of hope in the form of a choice appeared in front of me – the path ahead split into three. Three new directions in which to go gave an illusion of control even though all of them looked exactly the same. Looking back I still saw the ladder so I decided to let my legs carry me forward whatever might be awaiting me next.

Moving along the left side I discovered that three new paths awaited my choice and that somehow made me feel uneasy so I looked back and could do nothing but gasp – the stairs were again right behind my back. Petrifaction seeped throughout my body as a fear grandeur of which I would have never thought to be possible struck its claws into my mind. Gathering all of my strength I drove some of it away and continued to walk further down the corridor, taking lefts, rights and straights at random. Faster and faster till I ran down the seemingly endless corridor… "There has to be a way out of this nightmare!" I herd my own voice but it sounded like thunder booming in the distance.

After yet another left I was forced to stop because a double surprise awaited me there – my choices had narrowed down to only two! A two-way fork in front and no stairs behind me! Puzzled by this unexpected turn of events I started backing up only to discover that an invisible wall was blocking my path back. Feeling that the fear was slowly being replaced by rage I started to run further anew, feeling every cell in my body being fueled by the new found emotion. Soon the forks disappeared altogether. At this point I was fully consumed by the rage so all that was in my mind was "have to run faster… run… run… RUN!"

All too sudden I was brought to a painful stop. A small whimper escaped my clinched teeth as I got up, feeling the blood gushing out of my broken nose. Another invisible wall had appeared in front of me.

I felt my hands cramping up as I clawed at the walls desperately looking for an opening only to find none… I was trapped!

White rage and a distant insanity filled my mind and I started slamming my fists against the walls which were slowly getting covered by the blood that my body was giving away in generous portions. Tired and light-headed from my outburst and the blood-loss I sat down and started observing the walls which seemed to be fully covered by my blood and now were emitting a dark crimson glow. Soon though the light began to change the walls seemed to be pulsating. After a while I noticed that it was because the blood on the walls of my "cell" began to crystallize and small red cracks began racing each other and a fine red mist filled the space around me. Moments later my cell shattered like the last bits of hope in the deepest reaches of hell. I was falling… screaming darkness embraced me as I was accelerating towards the unknown. Apathy consumed me as the last bit my sanity was ravished by the demons of despair. I greeted the stop of my fall almost with gratitude but that was immediately forgotten as an eruption of pain took its place. I opened my eyes to discover that I lying near a street light, the small circle of light the only thing that existed as everything else was just an impenetrable darkness. I slowly dragged what remained of my body to the lamp post and a small laugh found its way out of my almost crushed lungs as I observed the slowly forming trail of blood that I was leaving "who'd have thought that I still had any blood in me…" I took a half-seated position praising the cool metal feeling that the lam post generously offered and then I slowly slid into a sweet sweet oblivion…

I opened my eyes only for a bright light to hit them. A silent scream wrestled its way out of my lungs and it seemed to be rewarded with some attention. "Take your time, your body needs to get used to the idea that there is no more pain." I started to get up, shaking my head trying to shrug off the red mist of pain that was echoing through my head, managing only to get to a seated position before I abandoned the attempt and turned my attention to a shadowy figure in the corner of my sight.

"You need to get some wind in your head, come with me," said the stranger and offered me a hand for support. Taking the hand and getting onto my feet I started to feel my vision getting back so I decided to take a better look at the owner of the hand and the next moment I almost let go because I was looking at a cat!

Smirking at the surprised expression I carried, the cat introduced himself: "my name … Macha, and I am sent here to give you assistance. But before any explanations we should go to a place where you will feel better." Having said that he started leading me towards an edge of a cliff. "Come, we must catch an up going drift." Having a hard time putting two and two together I automatically jumped with him but before my mind could hit the panic button I felt a stream of air carrying us upwards.

As the wind carried us I felt it also rushing through every cell of my body, cleansing me of everything that had happened, bringing me to a state of hyper-vigilance.

"Seeing that you are feeling better I think it is time for some explanations… Firstly it must be said that I am doing the bidding of your sister. Before you ask, she cannot reveal her location to you… yet. As for this place, it is created within a corner of your mind that is untainted by Xaa's power. Here you are able to summon up a portion of your powers thusly creating a possibility for you to escape the nightmare. Also you must think of a way to escape you imprisonment."

"But how can I?"

"Since you alone cannot do it I'd suggest calling for help."

"Help… but who?"

"That I something you must decide for yourself."

"But…"

"I am sorry but I cannot help you any further, also, it must be noted that Xaa will start to get interested in your state very soon so I would suggest that you make haste." And with these words he disappeared as did the wind carrying me. I was falling again. But this time it felt different… My mind was racing, processing information at an inhuman rate as the ground got closer and closer, yet no fear entered my thoughts… "I got it!"

I opened my eyes and discovered that I was observed by Xaa who seemed to be unable to move because of the shock.

"How did you…" she inquired, still baffled.

"It would seem that your toy is not really up for the job."

"But… Well, no matter, you two are still in my captivity."

"That also is yet to be determined," I said, feeling that a grin was forming on my face.

"What…" began Xaa but her words were cut off by the sound of a gunfight that erupted very close by. Xaa turned away from us to see what was going on only to be greeted by heavy gunfire. Not having recovered form the shock she started dodging them and didn't notice a man taking a careful aim at her with a very interesting gun. Fire… Blue light erupted from the barrel and hit Xaa. She got thrown against the side of the cave and immediately got hit by a rocket. The explosion causing a cave-in to start which immediately buried Xaa under a big pile of rocks. Moments after a beautiful woman wielding a wooden sword freed Aisha and me from the cage and gestured towards the exit. We ran… Explosions resonated through out the cave and swarms of bullets awaited prey. The exit was near but we had to stop for a whole army of indescribable minions of Xaa appeared in front of us, but I did not think of fear or anything else so pathetic and with Xaa's seal of my powers weakening every moment I felt I could finally take a strong offensive stance.

I threw my arms forward letting my mind unleash the power I now felt rushing through me and the floor underneath the throng cracked, rose and the shattered. As I observed the mayhem I found a little dark pleasure in letting someone else experience the dark despair of a fall to unknown. Then I raised my arms upwards in a very dramatic gesture in hopes to impress my saviors and brought rocks from the walls to form a bridge for us to get to safety.

"A guy that can do that needed us to save him?" a young voice I identified as Jim questioned behind me, followed immediately by a rebuke from Gene: "Shut up! Keep running! Question the workings of the universe later!"

As soon as we got out of the cave I found that we were on a red planet that seemed to have died a long time ago. Remains of ruins millennia old making their last stand against the merciless time surrounded a red ship. A red ship that I knew was here to take us towards the stars and away from this hellhole.

"Gilliam, open the hatch now! We are going to attempt to make to make the quickest planetary launch ever!"

"My future prospects seem darker by every day spent with this crew…"

"Bite me!"

A hatch on the ship's side opened and we ran into a dark-blue metallic corridor.

"And who might this gentleman be?"

"I'll explain later, we have to get out of here now!"

"Very well…"

The cockpit was almost as I remembered it except for another seat in front. Without giving it much thought I jumped into it and turned my head to observe the take-off procedure.

Gene was doing something with the controls and yelling at Gilliam. Jim mumbled under his breath while Aisha commented our actions to be cowardly and that she would have ripped them limb from limb if she had the chance. Melfina was in her place taking care of the take-off procedures and Suzuka seemed more interested in me than the mayhem around us. Feeling that the fatigue had finally caught up to me I decided to close my eyes and rest them a bit…

When I opened my eyes the room was dark and the only sounds I could hear were the hum of machinery accompanied by soft tapping of someone working at a keyboard. I turned to look around and discovered that the only person in the cockpit besides me was Gene.

"You wouldn't happen to know where I could obtain a bucket of coffee at this hour?"

"Oh, yes! There is this nice little coffee shop just over eighty three million miles to the left… but I think it doesn't have a parking lot big enough for our ship."

"While I admit that joking around instead of saving someone's life is a trait of only the best captains, it would be a shame for me to pass away so shortly after my rescue."

"Heh, well, I might become a terrible captain if the situation calls for it. What is your poison?"

"Black coffee… and strong enough to cause a hull-breach."

"All right…But you have to promise to warn me before your heart explodes. Jim, are you still in the kitchen? Good, then get the biggest mug of the strongest brew possible, our guest has awoken and threatens to slip back into coma if he doesn't get coffee."

After getting a confirmation Gene turned to me: "The coffee will be here soon, but meanwhile, could you tell me who you are? Aisha said something about gods or demons or whatnot and I don't understand what to make of it all."

"Erm… well, it is a bit difficult to explain… You could say that I am a god but I am far from omnipotent and even further from understanding how to use my powers. I am afraid I cannot explain much more until I understand what to do next."

"So, what are you planning on doing now?"

"I would be happy if you allowed me to stay aboard this ship until I figure out what's happening."

"Well, that won't be a problem since there are two good reasons for you to stay."

"What do you mean?"

"Firstly I am bored and this looks like it could turn out to be fun… and second, Aisha would rip my ears off and shove them up my nose if I said no. She seems to have taken a real liking to you."

Our conversation was cut short by Jim and Aisha who entered the cockpit.

"Here is your coffee and don't blame me if you get a heart attack."

"Why is everyone concerned with my heart?"

"Because if something happens to you I will attempt to find out how their livers work by examining them up close and personal."

"Brrh… So what did I miss while I was out?"

"Nothing much, we escaped and now are heading towards a hot spring planet."

"Why are we…"

"Because Gene has the idea that he might procure special shells for his caster."

"I think hot springs is just what I need now… How long till we get there?"

"As soon as Melfina gets here we will make two jumps so about nine hours."

"So… hot spring planet… That means that next stop is the Galactic Leyline. Maybe I will be able to find some answers there…"

As we approached the planet a certain feeling of unease crept up. As if a distant voice was trying to warn me about something but couldn't get through.

"Gene, forget about the caster shells and get us the hell out of here, now!"

"What do…"

"No time to explain, just hurry!"

Gene paused for a second then started to slam commands into the console.

"Crap! The engines are acting up again.. we can't make a jump now! I swear I will upload a virus to that round little bastard's translator that interprets everything he says as profanities next time we are at Blue Heaven!"

"Gene, there appears to be an ether stream forming within twelve minutes flight, although I recommend.."

"Bite me!" Set a course to the closest entry point to it and I'll show our new friend what this baby can really do!"

"My future prospects.."

"Bite! Me!"

A muffled yelp, coming from Jim's position, then caught everyone's attention: "We have company! Eight to starboard, 4 to port.. and about a billion on out asses! They just suddenly appeared a moment ago!"

"Friends of yours?" Gene threw my way as he entered commands to push the engines past their limit.

"Worse… siblings…"

"Shit! Gilliam, override all safeties! I don't care if we blow our engines so long as we get to the stream!"

"Done, and don't blame the next repair bill on me."

"Jim, can they catch up?"

"Time till we enter the stream, 66 seconds. Time till they get to the extreme range missile lock.. 54 seconds!"

"Crap! New-guy! Can you do some of your voodoo to slow 'em or speed us up?"

"No, they are blocking all my attempts!"

"Well then, let's see if we can outrun rockets!"

"The enemy has fired their first salvo! The stream is creating some minor interferences so I can't say how much time till the rockets hit, but my guess is that we either have a second to spare or we are dead."

"No time to think about small details, Jim! Entering grappler combat mode!"

The cockpit went dark and Gilliam started counting down the seconds till entering the ether stream.

5… Jim was huddling in his seat, mumbling incoherently.

4… Suzuka sat quietly, seemingly more interested in me than our possible doom.

3… Aisha seemed to want to jump over to where I was sitting, the only thing preventing her was the cable she somehow got entangled in.

2… Melfina looked calm as she was looking at the back of Gene who was concentrating on the controls.

1… I took a deep breath…

AN: And here is chapter 3, posted in celebration on my first review! Only took nearly 5 years… Devil of Solitude, You made my day, man!

Don't know about when the next chapter will be coming because I work about 150 hours a week -_-*, but rest assured, there WILL be more!