Second Age, Echo Realm
In a charming little corner of cyprus there sits a silver-roofed chateau nested in barley covered hills. From the morning shower, leftover vapors crept across the land, lulling anyone into almost
torpid complacency. On a nearby hill, a girl in a green veil chucked candy into a pond in exchange for sugar laden ripples, then fell back into the grass, dreaming. There was a windmill on the other side of the hill, where the faint orange sky met the undersides of clouds. A gorilla sat there, and stuck its face into a cherry pie.
Deep within the inner workings of the chateau a rather arachnid looking woman, Zemmy from Suburbia used the long handle of a silver ladle to scoop out fruit punch from the swimming pool in the harem-chamber, accidently letting some drip down onto her body. “How long have you been so perfect?” Uffhil remarked after unlocking the seal on the door. “Just bored as usual, waiting for your return” she answered, slurping another ladle-full. “I’ve been planning about how we will make it work, it will just take a little time, and convincing for the others to accept. The war wil be over soon, which is the first hurdle” he promised, taking her into his arms. “How noble of you, following your instincts …” she said while scratching his back with her arachnid legs, “by the way, I wanted to thank you for that gift you brought during my last visit”. “The television remote? I know that’s one of your favorites. I handpicked it at the Wolas Emporium” the patron recal ed. “Good to know” she quipped, her rough lips pressed into his. A minute passed. Then Uffhill opened his eyes, realizing he was kissing a life-sized television remote and that the real Zemmy was long gone.
CHAPTER 12 – THE BETRAYAL
Second Age, Echo Realm
Like a map of neurons firing, the empress peered into the fiefdom, hearing its cry. She flung herself into the Sublime Landscape where probability flowed as a subtle river into the unknown.
Ordinary colors adapted into something more abstract in the peripheries of the sky-islands over which Echo glided, studying the terrain until she saw in the distance a plateau upon which two glass cubes hovered side by side. Visualizing cracks on the surface of the cubes, she shot forward, trans-manifesting as fast as she could. Standing on the plateau between the inmates, Zemmy channeled static infused lightning against the glass. Shattering, the shards fell to the ground. Revived, the inmates breathed heavily, inhaling the scent of the sublime landscape.
“Valiant hero, don’t tarry. We should go now while we stil have the chance” Crytania said to Zemmy. “Please, just return without me, I can’t leave now” Zemmy explained. “Are you sure?
you must have unfinished business here, but that is no reason to put yourself in harm’s way”
Crytania asked, studying her resolve. “Yes, I do. trust me” the framer pleaded, looking back over her shoulder. The Scilyst looked over to Jack Bronze as he regained his strength, “very wel ”.
The two barreled away to the shifting horizon of surplus dyes and geometries. Two feet alighted on the plateau behind her, making a light tap. Zemmy turned around to see who it was. “Didn’t think I would ever real y need to use this” Echo said, bringing forth the axe of the bedlan. Lifting it high over her head, she let it descend, and the head of the framer rolled onto the surface, her body falling limp without its master. Echo herself turned around as the sound of a deathly cry channeled through the firmament. “No!” gasped Uffhill, climbing onto the plateau, making his way towards the lonely head. Within the clocks of her eyes, the hands where moving swiftly, and only ten seconds remained. A second before the finality, Uffhill arrived and kneeled down,
taking it into his hands, and the hand of the clock within the eye ceased. “Here you wil be safe”
he said, placing the beheaded into the Mirror Eye for safe keeping. Seeing the truth of their indiscretion, Echo began to walk away to return, then halted, looking back toward the grieving widow, and pointed to the body “clean this up”. The sounds of his sobbing fil ed her ears as she made her way to the edge of the plateau. This time she stopped once more, “and I’m sure she wil return to you”, knowing that one day the girl would be reborn from the mirror eye as he had, and left back to the base-reality.