Alea took an instinctive step parallel to the existing dimension, honed by her Traveller instincts, and reality shifted perceptibly. She could swear she was just being paranoid, but it seemed like everything was taking special notice of her, when she should be able to indistinguishably blend in with her surroundings. Like something was tracking her indirectly. Glancing around her new surroundings, a rural looking strip mall, she allowed the languages and impressions of the locale to fill her head. An eerie prickling feeling made itself known on the back of her neck. She glanced around quickly, nervously, ducking into a nearby store. It was a small comic store, and she quickly took up the part of the casual browser. It was fairly easy to duck away into a corner and pretend to be looking through comics. The cover of a girl in black leather with an Ingram mac-10 caught her eye, leaning on a motorcycle. The title declared itself 'Pretty Bishoujo Sanzenin.' 'Dammit... here too? What's going on?', she thought to herself, flipping through a 'Pretty Bishoujo Sanzenin' comic. The nagging feeling that something was wrong, that something was hunting her, kicked in a moment later. Taking a deep breath, trying to shake the headache from absorbing too much locale information from too many different dimensions too quickly, she took another parallel step to reality, out of sight in an empty aisle. She wasn't sure how long she could keep this up. The alternative, sticking around and finding just -what- was after her, would most likely be worse. She would rather run, while she still could. Maybe she could make it to safety.... She held her hand against her chest, reassuring herself that the necklace of Reill's was still there. Reill.... She wished the Reill that had given her his necklace was still the Reill of now, a desire still close to her heart even in her current situation. ---------- ] ]One of those Shops ]Branch A, Chapter 11 ] ]Started by Farsan de Arnibia ]Continued by Jexer the commamonster ] ]Unfate of the hunted ] ---------- The shrouded, skeletal figure, hummed happily. This was a very odd thing, indeed, for Weren was not one for humming. Or happiness. But here he was, humming happily. This can be explained somewhat by the dead Shopkeeper lying on the ground, and the near-dead Traveller next to her. He was currently working with a bright light. Two, actually. They glowed and pulsed in rhythym to each other, as if they were the same souls. While this would be a fairly logical guess, the fact of the matter was quite different. The soul of Sesamo and the 'soul' of the Shop were in fact, seperate, but linked so closely that you couldn't tell the difference unless you knew about such things. Which Weren did. He paused in his meta-physical tinkering with the souls, encountering some difficulty. "The bond is too strong... it can't be broken. And if I let the soul wink out, so goes the Shop." The lich pondered for a moment. "I've got to hurry. The souls are close to fading. I've no choice but to do something -now- if I want this Shop. I think this will work," he mused softly, setting the Shops soul aside, and held up Sesamos soul. His mouth moved silently, quietly intoning words of necromantic power, focusing on the soul. The lich took a moment to prepare himself, unsure as how having a soul again would feel. Casting aside his reservations, he thrust the soul of Sesamo into his chest, gritting his teeth. The soul suffused into his body, spreading, flesh and bones seeming more alive nearly instantanously. As soon as that started, the soul of Sesamo, some fragment of her identity and personality still within it, started trying to escape. Weren was expecting that, but not in such force. He closed his eyes, letting himself relax and focus, gathering his will to subdue the remnant force. Weren was too busy struggling with the soul to keep it from dominating him, that he didn't notice Keha Rou getting to his feet. >From Keha Rou's point of view, Weren was glowing softly, with an almost holy light, teeth and fists clenched, eyes closed, as if fighting some internal battle. The skeletal form seemed to be ... regenerating flesh and life. Keha took the distraction to retrieve his weapon. "Die!" he yelled, leaping at Weren. Weren's eyes snapped open a moment too late, the sword cutting deep into his now-mortal body. "You .... you...," hissed Weren through the pain. Keha Rou glared at Weren. Perhaps 'glared' wasn't strong enough of a word. Something more like 'a glare of such hatred and venom to wilt a rose two miles away' would be more accurate. "I don't care what you are. I won't let you live!" "You don't have a choice in the matter," Weren intoned quietly, his manner shifting, the light fading. Keha Rou withdrew his sword, preparing for another strike. "Wha...?" Weren held his wound with one hand, grimacing. "You can't hurt me now. Your efforts are useless, for this shop is now MINE!" Weren allowed himself a smile. "Do you know how a Shop protects it's master, Traveller?" Keha Rou frowned, levelling his sword to point at Weren's stomach. ".... What are you saying, Lich?" Weren grinned. "Quite simple. I've infused the soul of your beloved into myself. And now the bond works for me." Keha Rou stepped back slowly. Sesamo's soul...? Was that even possible? "Now begone. Run away and try and save your precious daughter. For you can do nothing here," Weren said, gloating. "Unless you wish to waste your time trying to hurt me. You're quite welcome to try, you know." Weren popped his now flesh-covered knuckles to emphasize his point. The wound from before healed near-instantly, the soul of the Shop instinctively healing the one it was bonded to from its reserves. Keha Rou growled. "Weren. I swear on my life and Sesamo's, I will kill you." He turned, and exited the Shop, slamming the door behind him. "Off you go, Kero. Good luck with your daughter. But right now, I must deal with the other soul..." --------- What do you call two females, singing (badly) and dancing (badly) to the radio? Bored. Reia had discovered the wonders of FM radio, while waiting for Miro. She had started singing along once she got the hang of the words, even if she didn't understand them. The fast music was almost intoxicating, and irresistable, and she soon found herself dancing as well. After a little coaxing, Mise was convinced to join in. Reia was doing quite well, surprisingly more athletic and in shape than her counterpart, Mise. For what it's worth, Mise had one of those voices that just about anyone could fall in love with, the kind of voice, when singing, that made the phrase 'Free car now VRRROOOOOM!' sound like a high-class opera performance. The whole thing was quite a sight to watch, and soon enough the Miro's Legendary Shop of Assorted Things had a small crowd, watching the two through the open windows and door. (They were opened by Mise to let in some fresh air.) Reia blushed, not used to a crowd. She wasn't going to let that stop her, though. Even if she didn't understand the words of what she and Mise were singing to. The two were singing to a Pepsi One commercial when Miro finally returned. He didn't make himself known right off, however, slipping into the crowd. It was amazing how those two could make even cheesy radio commericials seem like a hit song. He let himself forget about his worries concerning his mother and Alea momentarilly, standing with the crowd and watching. Maybe he could get in a few sales. The crowd was big enough for it. ------------ "Jingo Black here. Alea has shifted again. I can't keep track of here, need to recharge. Request Veir Yellow pick up the trail. We're close." "Veir Yellow here. Will do." "Gengiro Red here. Be careful. Remember, don't engage. Just keep track of her until she's tired out. We'll wear her out, then catch her." ----------- "Well, this is it! The Magic Treasure Chest!" exclaimed Rikura proudly. Himei Sazuhara nodded. "It's ... quite shiny," she said, after some hesitation, looking around. "Yep! Shiny stuff sells amazingly well, for some reason." Rikura grabbed the inanimate plush off the counter. "Hey, Mog! Guess what, I got a familiar!" The inanimate plush became an animate plush, climbing from Rikura's arms to her shoulders, and looked over them at Yukiri. For a moment, Yukiri's eyes shifted, glassing over. The emptiness threatened to overtake Mog, who couldn't bring its gaze away. / Rikura-sama! This isn't who you thin- / Mog fell over, once again an inanimate plush. "Hey? Mog? Mog?!" Rikura whirled around, to look at Himei. "What did you do to Mog!?" Himei blinked. "Ano .... is something wrong?" "Oh don't you -dare- try and play innocent and sweet with me! You did something to Mog! Who are you!" Rikura punctuated her yelling with randomly pointing at her, and fumbling about the shelves within arms reach for some kind of weapon. Himei held her hands up in a classic 'I surrender' gesture. "I can't tell you much, except for that I'm not who you think I am. Beleive me when I say I harbor no ill will torwards you, however." "I can't beleive that, not after what you did to Mog," said Rikura flatly. Her groping of the shelves found purchase with an especially shiny snowglobe, which she held threateningly at 'Himei.' 'Himei' blinked at the *shiny* snowglobe. "I am sorry. I suppose I should drop this illusion, then." "Uh-wha?" said Rikura quite intelligently, as the visual illusion of Miro's mother fell off, to reveal a black-skinned woman, with fiery red mop-top hair, wearing a pair of overalls. At the same time, a fog lifted from Rikura's head. The knowledge that 'Himei Suzahara' wasn't Miro's mothers name, but 'Yukiri Masa', was remembered. Why hadn't she remembered that before? Mog recovered, and sat up on its plushie feet. Flexing it's tiny wings, it flew up and landed on Rikura's shoulder. "Another Traveller?" asked Rikura, quietly. / Yes. / "I am sorry for deceiving you," the woman said, head bowed. "But I feared you would not let me go along if you knew who I was." Rikura blinked. "Well, ask, at least. And I wouldn't mind knowing your name." / Rikura-sama! She is a Traveller! Travellers are bad! / "Shut-UP Mog. I know. But that dosen't mean I'm going to instantly try and slay every one I meet, and she even apologized! I'm frankly starting to wonder how many of these Travellers are 'bad evil people' if her and Alea are any examples." 'Himeis' eyes lit up. "Oh! You know Alea? That's the reason... The Shopkeeper Red has put a bounty on her head, and I was hoping that if one of the Shopkeepers found her before her friends, I might be able to find out from the Shopkeeper where she was and help her." "Yeah... I wonder what happened to her. Me and her were supposed to be friends! A great glorious team!" Rikura smiled, imagining some scene privy only to her in her head. "If you're a friend of Alea's, I suppose I can trust you with my name. I am known as Himei," the woman added, almost as an afterthought. Rikura tilted her head. "Mou... being all misleading using your name in reality and then saying you can't tell me your name." The Shopkeeper sighed. "I'm sorry... I'm gonna have to go with Mog on this one. Alea's my friend, whether she admits it or not. So I'm gonna help her if I can. But as far as bringing you... no." Himei nodded. "I understand. Alea must be lucky to have a friend like you, shopkeeper or no." Rikura blushed. "Ehhehehehe. Where's the real Ms. Masa?" "She's okay. Merely unconcious. She will recover once I exit this dimension. I suppose I should continue my search, then. It was a pleasure meeting you." Himei bowed, and exited. "Mou... now I feel bad. Hey, Mog! Use your shoplink thing to tell Miro about his mom, okay?" / ... yes, Rikura-sama. / ------------------------ The shop previously operated by Sesamo shifted spots in the multiverse. Weren had finally figured out how to work it, or rather, how to correctly enslave the Soul of the Shop to make it work for him. Honing his senses on the 'scent' of Reill's personal essence, picking up sources and positions from many more points, amplified by the Shop, he picked one. It was shifting through different dimensions quite rapidly. A copper necklace, that 'smelled' strongly of Reill. Mentally, he willed the Shop to go there. Weren was no stanger to the workings of the Multiverse, how to slip in between the streams of dimensions similar to the manner of a Traveller, but he was still amazed at the sheer range of a Shop. A moment later, and the Shop appeared in a mundane looking dimension. It was time he 'thanked' Reill personally. ---------------------- "Janiel Pink here. Alea has shifted again. And another Shop has deposited itself here. Will attempt to dissuade it from following Alea." "Gengiro Red here. Good idea. Sending Jingo Black to pick up the trail again." The inter-shop communication fell silent for a few minutes. Then Janiel screamed loudly. "Janiel here! The other shop, it's... it's... Dammit, help!" "Gengiro Red here! Janiel, what happened? Janiel, respond! ...dammit. Jingo, Vier, Hyun. Gather at Janiel's location." ---------------------- Weren hummed happily. Again, Weren was not one generally for humming, or being happy. The occasion this time was the other Shopkeeper that had stopped by. Janiel, she said her name was, before she figured out that Weren was not the one who should be manning the Shop. Oh, the glorious feeling of channeling the power reserves of his Shop into a spell to make her blood sponteanously explode. If he did say himself, the splurts of blood on the walls and floor looked quite pretty. She had said something to thin air, however, so that meant he could probably expect company. While he was mortal now, he also had a huge reserve of energy to power his skill with necromantic spells. He would have to thank Sesamo for being so productive if he ever met her in some sort of afterlife. ------------------------ Not one, but four shops lodged into the dimension Weren and Janiel's Shops were at. They deposited themselves next to Janiel's Shop, one my one, and merged into a strip mall. As such is the nature of things, the sudden expansion of one store into a strip mall within minutes went unnoticed by the populace, seeming as if it had always been that way. One such individual noticed, however. "Four? This ought to be interesting." Weren strode out from his Shop, glancing at it over his shoulder. "I'll have to remind myself to come up with a better name for it now that it's mine." He returned his gaze to the empty parking lot. "After I deal with these fateless twits." ------------------------ Jingo, Vier, and Hyun were gathered in the parking lot behind Gengiro, who led them. Weren and Gengiro's group stopped 10 feet from each other, in the middle of the empty parking lot. The sun was just starting to set over the horizon, casting an eerie red overcast on the surroundings. The coloring soaked into Weren's all-concealing black hooded robe, making him seem to glow with a sickly red aura. None of them came unprotected, however. Jingo, a short stocky person, with a black headband, had a thick chinese umbrella, which, despite it's heavy look and his lack of height, he wielded quite easily. Vier had a yellow headband on, and while she had no apparent weapons, a quick glance at her quickly pulsing runed armbands shattered the illusion she was defenseless. Hyun was tall and gaunt, messy green hair partially covering his green headband. His lazy stance with the katana wasn't too impressive. Gengiro himself was covered in armor, a bright red, that smacked of high technology. Lines of power ran along pre-defined channels, lighting up and bringing attention to different parts of his suit at different times. He held a long metal cylinder in one hand, and the helmet to the suit in the other. "Identify yourself, so that we may have a name to go with your corpse," said Gengiro calmly. It was hard to see anything within Weren's robe. Nevertheless, Gengiro could make out a smirk from the figure. Other than that, there was no response to indicate that Weren had even heard him. "Fine. Have it your way. Die a nobody." That said, Gengiro slipped on his helmet, and thumbed the cylinder. The cylinder came to life, a long blade of energy forming. The rest of his group took that as the signal to get ready. Hyun and Jingo shifted their weapons into respective 'ready' stances, and Vier tapped her armbands together. This elicited a chuckle from the robed one, as he brought out his own Traveller sword. It too caught the sunset, and seemed to glow a sickly red. A dread silence filled the air, as Gengiro recognized the item. '.... A Traveller sword. So, it's who gets the first blow, huh?' The power difference between Gengiro's energy sword and Weren's Traveller Blade was negligible, both capable of slaying the other with a single strike. So it came down to a matter of skill. Gengiro wondered if his unknown foe realized as much. He spun his energy blade around several times, in an impressive show of skill. The blade left several static afterimages in the air, making it hard to tell which one was actually the blade. And then the Traveller Sword appeared in his chest, Weren not appearing to have moved at all. Gengiro's eyes widened, as blood ran from the wounds, spilling onto his suit. The others gave a collective battle cry as the weapon continued on through Gengiro's back, piercing it. Blood red seeped onto bright red sentai suit armor, which was shadowed by a sunset red glow. Hyun and Jingo leapt at Weren, who quickly jerked his blade out of Gengiro's chest to bring it to bear. Gengiro, for his part, fell face-first onto the pavement, gurgling. The battle was on. ----------------------- "....gone?" Alea asked herself. Suddenly, the dread feeling of being hunted had stopped. Cautiously looking around, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A desert planet, dusty and windy. Heavily-robed people rode giant lizards, the buildings were built into cliffs, or underground. She tried to judge the distance to get to the nearest building, but had trouble focusing, seeing double. Her head was pounding with pain, the hot suns beating down from above only making it worse. "... I'm spent. I ... hope I'll make it." Extremely tired, with a splitting headache, Alea Rou fell face-first into the gritty, hot sand, and passed out. The copper necklace clutched in her hand fell to the sand. ------------------------ Jingo's umbrella swished by where Weren's head was a scant moment before, the wind rushing with the blow. Weren ducked, jumping and rolling in mid-air, knocking the umbrella away with his sword. Another blow from the Traveller Blade, and the umbrella was knocked away, leaving Jingo wide open. Weren didn't get a chance to capitalize on that, though, as Hyun's blade snickered and flashed through the air. It was too fast for even Weren, and a thin long cut appeared on his chest. Weren hissed, spinning and kicking Jingo in the head, knocking Jingo back, and brought his attention to Hyun. "You were lucky," he hissed. Hyun smirked, the katana sheathed again. "Was I, foul one? I was known as Huyn the Green Lightning before I ever came across Deriol. Having several thousand years to practice my art has quite helped." Hyun's hands were nowhere near the sheathed blade, but Weren had seen Hyun attack with it so fast that you couldn't see it ever leave its sheath. "Your skill is impressive. But skill alone will not save you. I have ... other tricks besides this blade." "Perhaps. But I sense in you a sort of honor. A twisted dark form of it, but one that will allow you to leave this duel just a duel, sword versus sword." Weren snorted. "You would like that, wouldn't you? Fine, have it your way. Send off your friends, so that we may settle this." Hyun glanced at Veir and Jingo, who, in response, nodded. "I'll take care of him. Don't worry, I'll come back." "Don't be so sure." Weren thrust out his blade, intending to skewer Hyun, but expecting him to dodge. When Hyun did dodge, he shifted his weight, jumping up with the blade into an uppercut, shifting the blade in his hand, and changing the strike to an jumping overhead cut. Hyun dodged again, and there was a snicker and flash of reflected sunset as Hyun's katana scored another hit on Weren. "You're too slow," idly remarked Hyun. "You talk too much," retorted Weren. Another fient, then Weren gripped his blade with two hands, bringing ot over his head, spinning at the wrist, and bringing as much physical force he could bear to strike with. Hyun dodged, ducking slightly and half-stepping back, as Weren came around for another sweep. Hyun dodged again, stepping back. 'Drive him to the wall, and he won't be able to dodge.' Weren was trying to drive him to the wall, where Hyun couldn't retreat backwards, using sweep after sweep. It puzzled him why Hyun wasn't trying to block at all, only evade. Hyun seemed content to let Weren drive him back. Even still as they neared the wall. When it appeared Hyun would back up and hit the wall, he acted, backflipping and kicking off the wall over Weren mid-flip. Weren whirled around, barely avoiding getting his blade stuck in the brick wall, as fast as he could. The momentum of the sweep carried him, and intercepted Hyun's lightning-fast strike. Hyun's katana shattered. Hyun quickly wiped the surprised expression from his face. "It seems... you got lucky," he said after a moment, still holding the hilt of the shattered blade. "Very well. I concede. We... will leave. Consider this issue settled, with no more loss of life." Hyun bowed, then turned and ran to the impromptu strip mall. Weren silently tucked his blade into his robes, then strode to his own Shop. ------------------------ / Miro? Miro, can you hear me? / The one being addressed blinked, shaking his head. "What was that? It sounded like Rikura." Mise's voice interjected his thoughts in his head. / It was Rikura. She is trying to contact you via Mog. / / Miro? It's about your mom. It looks like she won't be coming along after all. / went Rikura's voice again. / Just think out loud, Miro. I will send what you wish to communicate. / went Mise again, picking up on his thoughts before he vocalized them. "Oh, right. Well, here goes." / Hai! Miro, your mom isn't coming with us. A Traveller posed as her to try and hitch a ride to find Alea. / / Yeah, she's okay. Himei said your mom would wake up once she left this dimension. / / Yeah. I already checked, anyways. Your mom's alive and kicking. And yelling, too. I didn't want to get stick around too long to investigate her well-being in depth, though. / / Wow! This mind talk thing is really neat! Hey, Mog? Who else can I get a hold of with this? / Miro grinned, sensing the end of the conversation. "Distracted again. Good ole' Rikura. Well, my mom's okay, and not coming with us. That's a load off my mind." Mise paused in her dusting of the dustless shelves as he said that. "Mise? What's wrong?" asked Miro curiosly. Mise set the duster down, and turned to face Miro. "Another Request. It's a big jump away, and it dosen't appear to be too important. However, according to the information sent with it, Alea is directly involved." Miro suddenly stood up. "Alea? Where?" "Apparently, she resembles one of the dimensions Goddess', and the population has started worshipping Alea in the Goddess' place. The Request is to get it to stop, without disrupting the Cycle of Faith of benefit to the Goddess in question. The particular place is one of the desert planets in the dimension." "Did they name Alea?" Reia glanced sharply at Miro as he said that a bit too quickly. "No. Merely a visual. We've met her, and would recognize her. I don't think others have, but if you're worried about her, perhaps we should hurry." Miro turned his gaze to Reia. "Reia, any objections?" Reia glanced at Miro, confused for a second. "Uh... no. No objections." Miro nodded. "Okay. Let's go, then." ------------------------ ------ Bleagh. It's really damned annoying not being able to write at all for 3-4 days. And having barely any time to actually work on this. I wish I could have worked more with the ideas I had, rather than followed up on the last part. ;_; That 'critical mass' thing I mentioned before kicked in again... Oh yes. Numerous small personal inter-house issues are a big delay, too. -_-; I like Alea. ^_^ Alea is fun to write. Even if there is very little writing in this part. ^_^; Oh, right. This is what they call The Impro Curse, isn't it? X_X *dies* Now. A: Miro's mothers name is Yukiri Masa, not Himei Sazuhara. B: Alea -is- an amatuer Traveller. Bleagh. Damn sterotypical half-breed thing. X_X But, I figure being a Traveller -isn't- hereditary, and being a Shopkeeper -also- is not hereditary, as Travellers seem to be randomly picked via Un-fate, and Shopkeepers are bonded to Shops. So it'd just be a coincidence that Alea's dad is also a Traveller? Or the fact that two people exempt from Fate had a kid, so the kid would be too, and thusly become a Traveller? C: Weren. He has a soul now! Not -his- soul, but I figure having one would make him mortal again. And that having that specific soul would be required to use the Shops bond. 'To be a lich, or a Shopkeeper? That is the question.' Oh yeah. I can't write Weren at all. >_< Sicc'in him on Reill oughtta knock him out of the story for a bit. And resolution will decrease character bloat and advance plot! Reill: You better not be intending to kill me off. Me: No, it's quite the other way around. But, depending on the author it could go either way. Reill: ...... so that's why you have the 'Die Weren Die' tattoo. Me: ^_^v D: 'Himei.' A doppler traveller. To cover for 'A'. Not intended to be a Main Character, or even a Side Character, even. Future authors are free to do with her as ye will. (or not do anything with her.) E: The Powershoppers. What do you call a sentai team without the leader and only half the fanservice support? >:) While most of them are fairly obvious as to how they fight, Hyun is based off Hyuga. Hyuga kicks ass. ^_^ (Also known as Citan, for those of you who aren't as much of a Xenogears fanboy as me. ^_^;) Again, blame prev author for char bloat. I'm intending for these guys to dissapear into some other plotline. But I -had- to make them at least a little bit interesting to write a good fight. (or a not-crappy one, depending on how the end result turns out.) I wonder how this story turned into a Multiverse-wide shadow conspiracy with Very Large Things at stake? ?_? Oh yeah. The giant lizards are the lizard-type that you ride like camels or such. Not the baby godzilla type. >_> ------ -------------------- Long black hair that matched the color of his soul rustled in the wind, the suns shining down from above adding a reflective shine to it. Vibrant green eyes surveyed the ground nearby slowly, methodically, before finding what they sought. A tanned hand reached down and picked up the copper necklace, partially obscured by the sand. Whoever had had it before was nowhere to be seen now. A manic grin parted, and a somber voice spoke, "This was Reills. But ... it was not Reill who brought it here." The tanned hand tucked the copper necklace into the black robe. "No matter. If this trail does not lead to Reill, then one of the others will." The manic grin returned. "The hunt continues, Reill. I will find you. I wonder if I should have told you that I need the owner of the Traveller's weapon dead to fulfill my plans." Weren tilted his head curiously, looking off in the distance. A team of tethered lizards and heavily robed men were dragging a slab of stone across the desert. "But perhaps you already know?"