Where The End Is The BeginningA Chapter by Alskar The first thing Adainne did when she woke was to scrub at the make up she had left on her face. After this, she reapplied her make up and dressed in fresh clothes. When she opened her door, she looked up to see Trellor had done the exact same thing at the exact same moment. They blinked at each other. Then they were in each other’s arms, touching foreheads. “I’m sorry about last night,” breathed Trellor. “I’m sorry for being so stupid,” Adainne responded. “How were you being stupid? I should have known seeing your mom would upset you so much.” “But at least she’s going to be alive now. Isn’t she?” “Once we’ve got rid of this reality, yes.” “Then hurry up and do it.” “I’m working on it,” said Trellor. He was tracing absent patterns on Adainne’s back, which made every nerve in her tingle. An alarm whinied through the house. Their pose broke as Trellor moved downstairs. Adainne followed. “What is it?” she called from the bannister. Trellor was at the wheel, spinning it wildly to lock the ship. He paused once the ship had shuddered still. “A recruitment copter’s a few miles from driving through my airspace,” he said, back to her. “It’s your ride home if you want to take it.” “Oh, right.” Trellor turned back round to her. “This could be your last opportunity, so you better take it.” “I guess I’d better,” she said. She came down the stairs. “Should I leave all my clothes here? Apart from my wand I don’t have any belongings I have to take with me.” “Yeah, leave them here. If you came to visit, you’d have a supply right here. And I’ll keep your room as part of the ship, too.” “Yeah,” Adainne agreed. There was silence for a few moments. Boston and the star were out of view. “You’d better send the message up, then. I’m not having anything to do with Cloudline,” Trellor said. “I’ll tell you when they’re overhead. They won’t be much longer in flying above the ship.” “Yeah, our shuttles are pretty fast, I guess,” Adainne agreed. There was yet another silence. The alarm went off again. “Urg, yes yes I know!” Trellor gave an angry wave with his wand. The alarm stopped. He turned back to Adainne, who had moved to the centre of the room a few metres in front of him. “You’d better message them, then.” “Yep,” said Adainne. Her wand, as always, was in easy reach in her pocket. She didn’t reach for it. Unintentionally the two locked gazes. Neither of them wanted to look at the other - this was clear. Trellor’s face was stony. Adainne felt a similar weight in her own expression. Her hand wrapped around her wand. Her eyes were still on Trellor. She pulled it out, and raised it to the ceiling. There, a white stream of light pulsed into the wood. “This is Cloudline member 203045, Adainne Silver. In need of immediate access to a shuttle, code 45.” Her voice bounded around the room. Trellor was watching her in silence. Another voice boomed back. “Member 203045, we have received your message loud and clear. Relaxing the protective spells on the shuttle to allow you access, please allow a few moments before you transport yourself into the ship.” Adainne broke off the stream. “Just a few more minutes.” “Yeah I heard.” Adainne’s shoulders dropped as she regarded Trellor. “This isn’t the be all and end all, you know. I can come back to you, just don’t throw lightning at me next time.” “I know, I know,” said Trellor. After another few moments of quiet, Trellor spoke again. “I’d just hoped, after you’d seen all the amazing stuff magic can do, you’d want to stay here with me. You’d never have to fight again.” “Yes,” Adainne agreed. “If I were going to do that, I would still need to go back to Cloudline to sort things out with my family. Are you okay dealing with the time cracks alone?” “There’s only one or two left,” said Trellor. “They are the biggest ones. After that, you’ll notice major changes, and eventually your whole world and memories will change.” “You’re sure you won’t need help with that?” “I’ve coped before. I could have coped with our mission too, but it was much easier and quicker with you there.” “I see,” said Adainne. “Well, I guess they’ll have shut off the spells by now. I’d better go.” Trellor stared. “Yeah, yeah I’ll see you later.” Adainne raised her wand slowly. Then she shoved it back inside her pocket and went to Trellor. They embraced at the same time, as though each had been expecting it to happen. “I promise I’ll come and visit, I will!” said Adainne passionately. His eyes relaxed. “Please do. I’m so glad to have met you.” With wordless confirmation, the two came together in a brief kiss. Then, their foreheads touched once more. “Now would be a great time to head to my barley field.” “Trellor…” “Moment spoiler?” “Yes.” “Alright, I’d better let you go.” He pulled away from her, slightly. “Is it just the whole barley field thing? Because I’m sure you already know, I have a comfortable double upstairs.” “Trellor, don’t tempt me,” she said with a grin. “I’ll be back soon, I promise you. But now I really have to go.” “I could really tempt you to stay, you know.” “Perv.” “I prefer the word, chancer.” “Okay, okay, I really have to go!” She broke away from him with considerable mental force. She sighed at his silly, lopsided grin. “You’re already tempting me to pack in being a War Wizard and come live here with you.” Trellor bowed his head slightly. “You won’t be a War Wizard for much longer anyway. They won’t even exist.” She realised. When Trellor switched the realities, she won’t even remember him. “I won’t have much longer, will I?” “No, you won’t. And I can’t hold off saving the world for a date with you.” The smile after this sentence was so boyish that Adainne wanted nothing more than to kiss it. “I’m most unflattered. Tell Boston and the star I’ll be back soon. If we’re not going to remember each other, I want to make the most of the time we have left.” She stood in the centre of the room. “At least hold it off for another night or two.” “It’s doable I guess,” he said. “Okay, I guess I really will see you later, then.” “Yes, see you soon,” she agreed. T This time, she did not hesitate in lifting her wand. The next moment she found herself crammed at the back of someone’s chair in a recruitment copter. They flew far away from Trellor’s cloud, Adainne being informed of the search parties that had been looking for her. She wondered if she would ever find Trellor’s cloud again in a sky so vast. She resolved that, when or if she found Trellor again, she would tell him that she wanted to stay there and never return to Cloudline. That she would help him in erasing the next two parts of the war reality. That being with him, and that alone, made her feel more alive than she had ever felt. *** “Where the Hell have you been?” This was the first thing Adainne heard as she jumped out of the shuttle. She had barely looked up when a flurry of warm ultraviolet collided with her. “Hello, Psyche,” she sighed, hugging her back. “Hello, stupid. Where the Hell have you been?” She pulled back from her. “Dad’s been worried sick.” “It’s a really long story. Can’t I tell you over dinner?” “It’s only 11am!” “It is?” Psyche groaned. “Where have you been hanging out? You don’t even know what time of day it is.” They began walking across the shuttle park to the complex. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” said Adainne. “Alright. So where do you want to eat?” “Pie In The Sky?” “Pies suck. But, whatever. You can tell me about your little adventure over a macaroni pie.” They moved past the revolving doors and into the blaze of heat in the front lobby. They walked down the shopping district on their right until a familiar pie-shaped sign swung in front of them. Soon they were seated, eating and discussing Adainne’s adventures in Trellor’s cloud. “He sounds-” Psyche munched quickly on her ciabatta to finish her sentence. “Beautiful.” “He sounds more beautiful than he actually is,” said Adainne. “He’s more hot in an off-beat sort of way.” “Oh right. Like, they’re totally off their nut, but somehow that makes them really hot?” “Something like that.” Adainne was in the mood for sharing. Her stomach was warm and filled, and for the first time in days she felt relaxed. “So, he bolts you out the sky, then can’t take you home? What the Hell did you do all the time? Did you-” “Yes, I shagged him,” Adainne sighed. Psyche’s eyes swelled. “OHMYGOD.” “I was drunk,” Adainne said, shrugging. “Neither of us remember it. Anyway, we did more stuff than that.” “More?! How much further can you go than sex?” “No no no.” Adainne leaned against the table in confidentiality. “Psyche, you can’t tell anyone about this.” “Yeah yeah, I’ll keep it buttoned. Spill.” She told Psyche that Trellor was a Time Wizard. Psyche choked and spluttered. “What? A Time Wizard?” “Shoosh!” hissed Adainne. “Bloody Hell, do you want the whole of Cloudline knowing?” “Sorry,” said Psyche. “How excellent, a Time Wizard. That upgrades him from hot in an off-beat way to plain old hot, right?” Adainne sighed and repeated herself. “Something like that.” The twins finished their meal, thanking the server on the way out. They spent the rest of the day walking around the shopping district, where Adainne was mercilessly nagged about the gory details of her and Trellor’s one night stand. Psyche subsided eventually after Adainne stressed how drunk they had been. “So what, you love him now?” asked Psyche, peeling apart one bright garment from the other on a clothing rail. “No! I’m not you, Psyche, I don’t fall in love with someone after less than a week.” Adainne had her back to her twin and was similarly raking through the rails. “The way you talked about your little walk in his valley - oh that sounds rude - you sound like you’re head over heels.” “Yeah?” said Adainne absently, having come across a top she liked. “Yes it bloody well does. We are twins, after all, you can’t expect us to be total polar opposites. Besides, it sounds like a pretty cosy time you had up in his nimbus cloud. Haha, that sounded rude again.” Adainne rolled her eyes, putting the top back. “I’m not saying I didn’t have a little crush, but I’m not sure about love. As I say, I was there less than a week.” “Then you’ll just have to trust me on this one, twin face. Hey, turn round. The pink one or the blue?” Adainne turned round obediently. “The blue looks nicer with your hair.” Psyche scoffed. “Purple hair is so hideous to match with other colours. I mean, I love yellow, but matching it with my stupid hair?” “You’re a Wizard, you know. Magic doesn’t always have to be about fighting, you can do fun crap with it too.” “Look who’s changed her tune!” Psyche said with admiration, stowing the pink top away. The twins continued shopping, then went to eat in Psyche’s apartment. Adainne was greeted by a shirtless Seth roaming around. After they’d eaten, Adainne waved goodbye to Psyche as she clung to Seth in the doorframe. She took two elevators to her own floor. Although it had only been a week since she had last been here, it felt like a new space. She waved herself into pyjamas after entering her house and slipped between vaguely familiar sheets. *** There was an obnoxious knocking. “Adainne! Adainne!” Someone was wailing at her front door. Was that Psyche? Adainne disengaged herself from the cosy cocoon she had made to answer the door. “Psyche, what the Hell is wrong with you? It’s eight am.” “Who cares! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” Psyche’s hair draped over Adainne’s shoulder as she hugged her tightly. “I told Dad-” “No.” “-that Trellor was a Time Wizard! Now he’s sent out a whole bunch of shuttles to go capture him!” “No!” roared Adainne, shoving a tear-stricken Psyche off her. “I thought Dad wasn’t going to use force on Time Wizards yet!” “I know but he’s become impatient and because you spent time with Trellor, he believes he’ll be more willing to cooperate, so he’s sent out a squad of recruitment ships to get him. I’m so sorry, Adainne!” “Why the f**k did you tell him?” snarled Adainne. “He can’t capture him now, he’s got to-” Adainne stopped herself. She hadn’t told Psyche that she’d seen their mother, or that she had went back in time with Trellor. In fact, she told her twin no details of what Trellor was doing. It was probably safer that way. If Trellor was captured, there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to close the cracks in time. She couldn’t let that happen. “For f**k’s sake,” growled Adainne, waving herself into an outfit and locking her apartment door. “I’m going after them. You stay here, Psyche.” Without a glance at her twin, she charged off in the direction of the front lobby. “I’m so sorry, Adainne!” Psyche called, but Adainne showed no interest as she slid into an elevator. *** Adainne ran past hundreds of shuttles until she came to her own. She waved the lid open and hopped in, buckling up and pulling back the acceleration lever. Without haste, she pulled the lever back to maximum capacity and shot off in the direction of Trellor’s cloud. Wisps of white blasted past her windscreen. She was hurtling through the atmosphere faster than she could remember ever doing. The last time she remembered travelling remotely this fast was on her first shuttle driving lesson. She’d spun off uncontrollably, knocking her less-than-happy instructor into the back of the shuttle. She was looking below for the familiar enormous cloud that was Trellor’s home. Her home, too. Before another thought could drift to the forefront of her mind, lightning tore across her windscreen, blinding her. The shuttle dipped as she lost control, but she regained it. Trellor? It had to be. She pushed on through the clouds, the sky flashing white around her shuttle every moment or so. She passed through the final section of the cloud and into open air. It was Trellor’s nimbus cloud below! In a halo formation a mile above it were her fellow recruitment soldiers, now intent on capturing. The clouds had parted around the scene, as though they too were frightened of getting caught up. She knew what she had to do. She swerved behind a nearby white cloud, then put the shuttle in park. She whipped out her wand and pointed it straight in the direction of Trellor’s ship. A stream of electric white was beaming into the floor of her shuttle. She couldn’t conceal its path from her fellow soldiers, but she figured she would be gone by the time they got to her. It would be a car chase through the skies. She spoke clearly into the direction of the beam, her voice echoing within the shuttle. “Trellor? It’s Adainne. Can you hear me? You’re surrounded by War Wizards.” Another voice boomed back. “Yes, do explain that. In fact, scratch that, I can guess. They’ve discovered I’m a Time Wizard. I’ve always guessed this would happen. I don’t suppose it was you who told them?” Adainne sucked in a breath. “No, no it wasn’t! Not directly!” She cried, passionately. “It’s alright, Adainne.” Trellor’s voice was soothing. “However they found out, that’s not the main issue right now. Now, I can use this situation to my advantage. I have one more crack to solve in time. I can hide back in time from your pals, as well as clearing up one of the final parts of this reality.” Adainne gasped. “One of? But you said you only have one more crack to sort out!” “Yes, I do. I’m going to transport Boston and the star to your shuttle using this stream. They will give you further instruction while I pass over the time rift. In fact, it’s the dimensional rift I’ll have to pass through, too.” “Why though, Trellor?” asked Adainne desperately. “I haven’t even see you yet! You can’t change the world yet, I haven’t said goodbye!” There was a silence on the stream. “Yeah, I know, right?” Another moment’s silence followed. “I promise you we will meet in the new age. An advantage of being a Time Wizard is that we never forget what’s happened to us, whether it still existed or not. Anyway, I haven’t got much time until I get hit with another round of spells. I’m sending Boston and the star over now. Listen to them to the letter, I’ve clued them both up on exactly what I need you to do.” Behind her, two bodies fuzzed into existence. “Adainne!” cried the cat, jumping on her shoulder and rubbing his cheek against her’s. The star squeaked, twirled and turned pink above her other shoulder. “Hey Boston, hey star,” she said, patting Boston. She turned her attentions back to the stream. “So that’s it? You’re off now?” “Yes I am. If I stay any longer I’ll have to kill one of your little friends, and for your sake I don’t want it to come to that. I promise you, Adainne Silver, in whatever way it might be, I will come back to you. Boston old boy, I trust you.” “See you in the new life, old friend,” said Boston to the stream. “Yeah, see you then. I’m breaking off my stream now Adainne, and when I go into the rift your’s will break too. Talk to you all another day.” “Trellor! Trellor!” Adainne called down the stream. “Hey! Wait!” There was no response for ten seconds. Then her wand violently vibrated, and the stream disconnected. The shuttle ferociously rocked and rumbled. It passed after only a few seconds. Trellor was gone. “Okay, let’s get down to business,” said Boston, leaping off her shoulder and onto a buttonless patch of the control panel. “The first thing I need you to do is travel back to the C.I. Then, I need you to talk to your father.” “My dad? About what?” asked Adainne. Boston bowed his head. “I must explain more when we get there, but, in essence, you are responsible for sealing the final crack in time. Trellor at the moment is only curing the second last one. Your dad, being the driving force behind the sky resistance, is the critical last part of this reality that needs to change.” Adainne was about to ask a number of questions. Then, she relented. “I see. Do you have any idea how long I’ve got until this reality closes?” “No,” Boston replied. “But it will soon become apparent how much time you’ve got left.” Adainne sniffed. “Just great. Well, better listen to Trellor I guess.” “You two are the last hope this entire planet has,” said Boston, in a matter-of-fact way. Adainne sighed. “No pressure then.” She pulled the lever back halfway, taking it out of park. “Off we trot.” They pulled out from behind the cloud, then twisted in the air until they faced the direction of Cloudline. The three tore through the sky for the last time, ready to save the world from the clutches of Wizard Eron and the friction of conflicting realities. © 2012 AlskarReviews
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