From the new condition of Sol came environmental changes within the SOTA. Before the phenomenon the Earth had orbited outside of the sun. After the phenomenon the Earth orbited within the hollow sun. As a consequence, a process of Environmental Inversion was initiated.
Before, there had been twelve months in a year. Now, within the corona the Earth experienced only a fraction, the “One-Twelfth Month”. It is sometimes referred to as 1/12th month or OTM for short. Colloquially it is known as Oat-um or Oats-month, a mispronunciation of OTM. So, there is one month in twelve years, which is termed the total-year. The different expressions of seasonality occur simultaneously in different regions side by side. Strain on local fauna and flora resulted in new adaptations, while others found shelters from the difficulty to remain unchanged.
Moreover, the energy field produced by the fiefdom of the SOTA, channeled through the corona threatened to produce disturbances on the other planets within the system, halting diplomatic efforts.
During a tour of one of the autumnal regions of his portion, Leffel came upon a park whose trees were shedding their leaves. He was alone, and so decided to disrobe his cloud vestments, which he placed on a park bench. The patron was now only water in human shape.
Sensing a coming breath of wind that would throw the stubborn leaves from their branches, he extended out his arms and rotated around to obtain a total view of the park. Like a disco they danced to the rush of the wind. As they fell upon him the leaves stuck to the surface of his water body, as leaves do when they fall upon a pond. As if a game, Leffel raced back and forth through the park towards the areas of the greatest density of leaves until his body was covered. He evolved and became ETM, Eleven-Twelfths-Month to become the vessel of the remaining segment, the fraction 11/12ths month of the total-year. “My water” he thought, looking down at his body as it shifted to orange, and then continued to pass through the the range of autumn, from orange to red to brown to yellow, as well as the other intermediates. Shaking off several leaves, the remaining ones continued to drift along the surface of his body as if on a pond. Some of them underwent an elemental transformation while others remained pure and simple. The fraction 11/12ths appears in his vicinity. In the ensuing period, he would use his newfound ability, sent as an ambassador to placate the disturbances, and to the newfound colonies.
CHAPTER 38 - CACTUS LEMUR GARDEN ASTEROID
By this time Swordcarrier Alexa had experienced the transformation of her patron, being a cultess of he that was now Eleven-Twelfths Month. Alexa lived in the portion atop the anechoic plateau, and was an avid collector of historical items, her home being a cabinet of curiosities. Every two weeks she would return to meet up and socialize. As Alexa searched through the sublime landscape, she came upon ETM as he was walking along a beach of glass sand, moving about for an amenable place to regard the artificial fabric of that space. The delightful vitality of the waters tended to the sweltering ego of the collective dream, giving them pause. Indeed, an entire landscape had been overtaken by the beach overnight without the initiation of any agency within the cult. After a brief inspection of the variance, the woman took out of her satchel her newest acquisition, “Take a look at this will you, these chalices have been dated but the measurements put it even past the eighth age, and it’s still in working condition”.
Handing him both the chalices, the patron felt the weight of their age. “Alexa, these must be from the seventh age, how did you get these?” he asked. “Well, I bought them at a yard sale off Pausica street in Grass-Loaf quarter a few years back, and I’ve taken them to one specialist after
another, but with no luck” she said, placing the chalices back into her satchel. Telepathically Dreamer reached out to ETM and relayed to him that the chalices were those same vessels that Veles drank from and which the divine couple shared, sending the water through to Echo who cried, forming the sacred pond of Castle Rieuvi from which Leffel was manifested as the personification of a circular ripple. At his prompting Alexa retrieved the chalices again and the patron melted and formed them into a robe for himself. “You are full of surprises, Alexa. These were the very chalices from which my mother Veles brought me into this world. Today is certainly a day to talk of old times. Tell me, what else do you have hidden away? I'm beginning to think that we don’t spend enough time …” the patron began when a wave from the beach ambushed the historian and dragged her in. Instructing the waters to release her became futile, as all trace of the woman had disappeared. ETM ran into the water waist deep, searching for oceanic currents of the sublime landscape that could have possibly transported the historian, but to no avail. In a distant region of the Zino sector Alexa found herself drifting through space. For some uncertain reason the water that had drenched her face had granted protection from the airlessness and cold. An immense asteroid lumbered past, and Alexa landed on its rocky surface.
Searching for shelter the woman found a tunnel and came upon a cavern below with a forest of towering cacti as one would find in a lifegiving desert. Slowly, deliberately Alexa walked through the forest evading the spines that were feet in length. Craning her head to the heights of the garden she could see families of lemurs dancing with precision from one cactus to another.
Farther into the heart of the garden there was greater diversity, from succulents to cultivars of various colors and shapes. She passed from a patch with rotten and half rotten cactus fruit lining the ground to another where broken succulents bled aloe down onto her from the heights. “The spaces between the cactus are getting much larger” the woman noted, as a giant lemur landed directly in front of her, hindering the path for a moment before rebounding up into the canopy again. The cacti in the heart of the garden were of much greater circumference, and their spines could actually be climbed quite easily. Families of giant lemurs stared down at Alexa with their yellow eyes, their tails hanging down like pendulums. “That is clearly the center” Alexa thought as she stared at the large green dome that was to her conception a building. A doorway ringed with desert flowers beckoned her within. “In this chamber there are thorns that point inward as well” she noticed, and walked towards the center of the dome. Resting in the body of the woman was the mirror sword used to strike down Githin during the battle of Rot. It arose from her body and reformed, then stretched and became a circular mirror that levitated in front. Curious, she joined hands with her reflection on the smooth surface. Then it was as if her point of view was channeled across a distance, a swift journey between walls of mirror. Insubstantial, her vision moved like a breeze through the maze. The walls were tall and cast no reflection of her presence.
When it returned, Alexa noticed that she was looking simultaneously through four eyes, that of her own person and that of her reflection, each out at the other through the barrier. Blindness came, and then the assault of happiness as it rushed back into the chambers of her body, a seltzer heaving with the return of youthful emotion. Then there was darkness as the inner realm within her was reborn. Alexa opened her eyes from her original perspective and the barrier turned into a mirror sword yet again that vanished into her inner realm. Around the dome of the cactus chamber the thorns that lined the interior became mirror thorns that detached, transforming into new mirror swords which pointed towards her. The multitude of mirror swords shot towards her all at once, and at the moment that they were to pierce her they entered her inner realm. The thorns continued to grow, and they continued to transform into swords and fly towards her, entering her in a continuous stream. After five minutes the barrage ended, and the dome of the
chamber rotted away, the buzzing of flies became swirls of motion as the time lapse chewed away at the cactus. In lieu of the garden, the landscape was instead replaced by the walls of the mirror maze. Above, wreathed in indescribable potent eccentricity where Four Eyes from which issued the shifting spatial landscape of the world of the mirror maze. The two sets of Eyes stared at one another. Alexa looked up and each set of Eyes combined into one eye. With vague understanding of what the object in question was, the woman only observed as one observes a strange happening in nature. The two Eyes of Linden Dream combined and became one Eye, and the two Eyes of Melina Dreamer combined and became one Eye. Fainting, the neophyte fell to sleep and came to lay upon a warm bed of sand. “What manner of desert is this? '' thought Alexa, thinking that the asteroid of the cactus garden may have returned to whatever delirium it had been conjured from. Scrambling to her feet, the castaway made tracks across the sands. Before her a green cactus sprang from the ground, and atop it grew a cactus flower. As the cactus flower emerged a gray bearded man sitting upon it was revealed. The man spoke to her saying,
“That which you gave is now part of the seed of the Jellyfish Flower”. “What does that mean?”
replied the woman. The man looked down at her with his aged eyes, and shifted its position within the chair of the flower, “The Honfot-Gid that was your own, that you donated to the moon”. Alexa was left speechless. She had known like everyone else that the moon had become the seed of the Jellyfish Flower, but she had never once considered her contribution, the organ transplant that was given to Leffel, and had returned in time to thinking only of simpler matters.
Alexa now was filled with questions, and began accumulating them in her head. As she did the cactus grew high and the gray-bearded man atop it vanished from her sight from the level it had reached. Yearning for answers, the woman climbed atop the thorns of the cactus, like climbing a tree, to the top of the cactus. When she arrived at the top the man was gone, leaving only the wide and conspicuous petals. But suddenly she tumbled on through the flowerhead, onto another patch of desert, where she found herself walking along, dizzy for a while. The currents of the wind would at times disclose the night sky that lay underneath the soft terrain. Strange that she could feel her own footprints, even when her feet were far apart from the depressions.
Inquisitive, she circled around an odd silvery cactus to examine it. Dut … dut … dut. The woman felt a tap on her back. “My name is Chaz Waterpasture” said a normal green cactus standing in a brown flower pot. From its body extended two long vegetative extensions with flower buds like arms at the tips. “Did you tap my back just now?” Alexa asked. “Yes, I just needed to get your attention for a moment, it's good to meet you then” the succulent mentioned.
“Can you tell me what this place is, and what is going on?” the woman pleaded. Chaz waved his arms defensively and said, “Seems normal to me. You’re not from around here, are you? Jump onto the edge of my pot and I’ll show you around”. Plopping her behind onto the rim, it glided across the sands that at the corners of her eyes proceeded like free-flowing liquid. Several of the other cactus lifted up and became ovals and then mirror droplets that vanished into the sky. The tearing of roots disturbed the soil. “That’s something special to you, isn’t it?” Chaz kidded as they watched one of the droplets disappear. “Can I shake your hand” Chaz asked, and Alexa took one of the bud hands into her own and shook it. The bud-hand bloomed into a cactus flower. She took the other bud-hand and shook it as well, and it flowered as well. “Let’s go this way” Chaz suggested, and she jumped onto his pot once again until they came upon a charismatic mirror cactus deep in the desert. When she jumped down onto the ground again and approached it, the plant opened and unfurled its skin, revealing the red flesh of a prickly pear within. “I think this is where we part ways,” Alexa said, and bid farewell to Chaz as she walked forward, and entered the flesh of the prickly pear fruit, and the flesh of the cactus retracted until the plant was whole
again. Swordcarrier was back at the location where the Dome had been before the rotting in the heart of the garden, and evolved into War Alexa. “My flesh is cactus fruit” she thought. Upon her body formed a green metallic armor. Both hands became heavy as a mirror sword appeared in each. In truth, she could now summon at will mirror swords from her sword carrying inner realm. With both she ventured back into the thicket and came upon a red-eyed giant lemur.
“Don’t be shy” Alexa said, and returned the swords back into her inner realm, and stretched out her hand to rub the brown and white fur of its forehead. After befriending it, she rode upon its back as it leapt through the canopy and it took her back to its home in a hollow chamber where a family dined, and she joined them in their feast. When her belly was full Alexa left the asteroid, and returned through the void back towards the SOTA. Without the prominent occupant, the asteroid continued on its lonely journey through space, its ice-trail like a mark of chalk across a blackboard. In the world of the mirror maze a woman in a tan janitor’s uniform whistled as she mopped a spot on the floor, where there was a puddle of cactus fruit juice.
CHAPTER 39 - LEFFEL AND PRIYA AT THE PARK
“What is this big contraption?” Echo wondered. It seemed to have all sorts of bells and whistles, different components operating sequentially. Larry Territorial-Matrix, the youth academy teacher who had brought his class to the park that day, smiled at the incidence of such a clear question. Or perhaps, giving her the benefit of the doubt, and to be rightly impartial, it could have been that it was just his own disposition, wearing two sweaters on a warm day.
Simultaneously, each of the students, who had reasonably only worn one sweater gawked as well at the moving parts of the varied framework, although they had built it from scratch themselves in teams of four. “It’s called a Rube Goldberg machine, really it just does one simple job, but the way it does so is complicated,” Larry explained, motioning to the see-saw which had just been lowered. “This is bonkers. You’re just fiddling with things. Why does there have to be such a long string of events?” Echo reacted to the novel, innovative titillation of her intellect. “I’m teaching them about machines so they’ll learn to build them as well. As you know most spell-engines today have their basis in pre-realm machines” Larry countered, drawing a nod of acknowledgment from the eavesdropping patron. “Ah, I get it now” she multitasked, as her eyes followed the course of dominos falling effortlessly along a track. Bantering further about the current semester of the school year, the time flew. And for the record, conversation has no effect on the rate of it, however precarious the topic. From the jogging path came a new arrival, striding closer by tapping a long walking stick along the ground. Preoccupied, they barely recognized the approach. “Grandmother, I received your telegram. I can show you around on our walk. it’s a circle so we will loop around” Leffel submitted, reluctantly pleased to see her in a jovial mood.
For the children he waved his hand, stripping a plump apple tree of its contents, and covered them in rock candy. Thanking Larry, she made for the jogging path, curious as to the purpose of the walking stick, which she deduced was most likely brought simply for show. Echo stayed silent on the matter, feigning disinterest, as other avenues of repartee unfolded. An ember of guilt remained at the back of her throat until dissolving completely. Being taxed by official duties, she had little spare time for each portion’s attractions, even that which Leffel had designed and executed himself. Treading the loop would bring them around the Park Concentric, through the surrounding One Twelfth Month Park but not touch the Ordinary Month Park at the heart of it, a place lined with benches where Leffel awoke as the Eleven-Twelfths Month. “Did you want to show me around?” she began, joining arms as they pushed into the sprawling common, a place
where quirks of nature outnumbered people “Yes, you’ll really get to witness the inversion and see how animals have adapted. Jeobeu Bouit loves it, she jogs along this path every morning before returning to metacoma” Leffel offered, sharing a personal tidbit discreetly whilst people hurried by on their afternoon exercise. “The system colonies are scrambling with us for territory, you wouldn’t imagine what dirty tricks they have done to gain land grants on the worlds we founded” Echo bemoaned, watching a line of ants wait patiently in line for a plastic slide, then climb up the ladder, rushing down. “Eventually we are going to need a better way to deal with them. Right now, I have my personal mausoleum, “The Burden of Propagation” that can be put into profit to extend terraforming services to the system colonies. Dylan Arch is a fine captain, so he can usher Hioane Wep and Ramb Unba to perform the duty” Leffel advocated. “He is doing this in part to lord it over Honeycomb Man, but I will accept it” Echo thought, nodding her head,
“I was going to ask you earlier, thank you”. “Be careful of the pace at which you do so, grandmother. Terraforming of our colonies by Chamberification has variable effects. Did you read the report by the office of home hopping? That whole thing was cooked. Most of the environments of the colonies have fought terraforming efforts to a greater extent than you realize. As a result, energy constructs have invaded the sublime landscape, causing the partition of sky-islands. The faster we push this, the more it will weaken the metacoma, just remember that '' he suggested, burrowing his way into the political mechanics that ran her continual perception. “Having both of them is gratuitous, you can send a Caterpillar of Ramb Unba in his stead” Echo agreed. Leffel had to thrust out his walking stick in front of his grandmother’s feet so they could step around an innocuous circle of frisbee poop that an abridomiah morin carela had deployed along the path. On a nearby patch of grass it pursed its lips disappointedly, then wobbled its hippo-like girth and fat stubby legs. Concerning the poop, It was visually identical to a frisbee in every respect except consistency. Whereas ordinarily the distinction between seasons is abrasive, especially in the pre-realm years, that of the park where not blended … but sprinkled together in different proportions in different locales. In retrospect the past may have been a simpler time. But those that cling to it cannot appreciate the precious fraction of one-twelfth month. Echo looked to the south where there was a lengthy structure enveloped by bonsai trees, a steam-house from which locals emerged, bath-robes hugging their bodies. They sat on the ends of the square pots of the big bonsai trees and drank from mugs of hot-cocoa, in mid-conversation until ultimately their robes dispersed as snow again, returning to a cloud that showered them on the other end for the newcomers. Nilon, one of the chubbier cases of rat-people stirred his mug with his tail, then continued on about how he had settled out of court for a case involving slander claims of who in fact carried the black plague. The jury had been so confused as to whether humans or his people were to blame. The whole thing, of course, had been a farce. There were also robes from fresh snow on the ground. Bath robes white like fleece hidden like gems in the parkland. Habits of the local flora and fauna were unmistakable in their complementary grace, in a way that spelled déjà vu to those of old, yet in different guises. Along a stretch of trail that had fallen leaves a grouplet of trunks slowly ambled with dumb roots like babies learning to walk.
Then up ahead, where the ripeness of the grass was more coherent there wobbled along giddy tinker toy robots that would grab with its little claw one of the cracked nuts on the ground. Five weeks later after snacking on so many, they could reconfigure into metal birds with beaks like toucans. Every so often the insects, hardier than their antecedents came in groups to the elm, the former of which had grown much taller with less foliage, where cicada shells still cling, offering bunches of flowers that conformed to grow in the recess. Happily, they slurped up nectar, thereafter rubbing their abdomen against certain parts of the tree in appreciation. Larval flowers
are also prized by many for amulet class spells. “Grandma, take a look at the woody area over here. After the seasons changed, a lineage of the white oaks, which was used to make barrels for wine-making, adapted. Since then they have been renamed Three Barrel Trees, due to a lifecycle that relies on the container” Leffel directed, aiming his hand at a full-grown oak, “this one isn’t doing anything, let’s keep moving”. Further down the road a cluster of trees shrunk themselves down so they could fit into wooden barrels, flipping themselves head-first so their canopy was at the bottom. Over the mouth the massy dome of roots and dirt sealed up the container. Acting like flippers the staves paddled, bearing it aloft, and the two of them watched the barrels fly about, dropping tubers at various locations for the critters below. “Now see where they go '' Leffel said, excitedly squeezing her shoulder. Fighting the winds, one of the more well-rounded barrels swam upwards to a family of low-hanging clouds. In a rather quick dramatic motion the closed end of the barrel unsealed itself, sucking up a portion of the mist, expelling the tree. Halfway to the ground the oak flipped over and formed a makeshift parachute with its root system, softly returning to a humble patch of grass. “Pretty good acrobats' ' Echo admired, clapping. Learning of a nearby barrel, the oak shook itself from the brief reprieve, crawling inside. Roused, the spot became damp. Moss and grass spread across the wood of the barrel, forming a mantle. Entirely clad, it sank into the earth. “I can sense where it’s burrowing, follow me, '' Leffel tugged, leaving the path behind. It surfaced in a clearing, enticing the animals to pluck off the green shrouded staves, collecting them and revealing it to be empty, for at a certain point during the burrow the tree decided to stay underground. Echo watched a teal jackal sloth carry one of the pieces on its shoulder to a suitable spot. Tucking it into a shallow plot, the article blossomed, producing flowers and vegetables and fruits which other scampering onlookers came to benefit from. Hares seemed to be especially fond of a certain petal from a creamy peach colored flower. Thereafter the wood became supple from so much blossoming and the jackal sprinkled bits of dirt into the cavities for it to continue its production. From earlier, the barrel that was stuffed with clouds drifted to the ground. White feathery rhizome creeping rootstocks located it, tapping the base.
“Don’t blink, this is my favorite'' Leffel promised, then just as before when a singular motion had ejected the tree, the burrowing oak returned to the vessel, pushing out a puff of cloud from the top, sculpted into the perfect shape of a barrel that shot out, bobbing to the sky and engulfed by the underbelly of a more faint-hearted sibling. Closing her eyes, Echo could sense the barrel dissipate in the body of its brother. Gradually the tree incorporated the circle of staves, growing to its original height. “Seeds pooped out by the animals from the stave fruit will grow into replacement barrels' ' Leffel assured her. “What happens next? I thought you said there were three?” the elder inquired curiously. He turned around to make way back to the park trail spontaneously flashing the autumnal waters of his body, disregarding what had captivated them with instinctive novelty, “At this point the oak is sexually mature and grows a barrel with a leaf inside that will detach and find a suitable location, but we can’t stand here and wait another two weeks''. Crossing the length of a pond, they watched di-maples detach from the periphery and hover of the surface, growing reflections that they uplifted from the reflective sheath, then turned horizontal, segregating as cells do in mitosis. Octopi squirming within the root ball pushed with their tentacles, helping to separate the two. The patroness kept up with her grandson as the trail curved around in the opposite direction, bringing them to an area more sprinkled with summer.
Arrows of light from a particular sharp angle over the horizon fell onto patient locks hidden in their beds of grass, triggering them to complete their combinations, twisting to exact numbers.
As the metal bar unhooked and swung to the opposite side, the bulk of the lock, its metallic sheen diminished, until the activity instigated by the light finalized, becoming a thing of
transparent glass into which a tiny blue armadillo waddled to make its burrow. To signal the possession, it rolled into a ball, inspiring rivals to disperse as the glass bar locked into place.
Here the grass shared subtle symmetries with one another, more so than ordinary. Lapping up the mist, wooly red grazers lumbered past, a species of Wohan habituated to ambient magic. Halfway around the bend Leffel flinched then craned his neck. “Oh! They cannot do that here!” he bawled, seeing a duo of cars flying over the park, broken away from the periphery of the city.
Shamelessly they veered around and landed adjacent to a rest area. Chasing off a family at a mahjong table, the youths filed out of the cars and sprawled out to their own content. Echo couldn’t help but notice how ultra-normal some of them looked, except for the one wearing a bathrobe. A brunette girl with a cream blazer and a spiked neck collar kicked the side of the car for the guy inside to start playing loud music, then threw the mahjong tiles up into the air so the others could dance as they came down. Leffel shuddered at how plainly ultra-normal they were dressed, enhanced magically by some store in the mall to be even more normal. “Excuse me …
fellas. The Concentric guidelines clearly read that there is to be no parking or flying overhead.
We have to be stewards of this fragile environment and protect the animals that call it home. The park is built on that promise. I’m afraid you will have to return to the portion at once”. The girl raised an eyebrow at the lackluster attempt at moral eloquence, “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”. “Listen here young lady, this is a public place, you can’t just make it …” he began until being cut short. “Actually good?” the girl answered, striding over to him. A finger tapped against his chest, “We can go wherever we say, and I don’t see you with wheels, so why don’t you shut your mouth and go count your fancy animals over there”. “I like these kids” Visioness remarked in her head from the realm of silence. “Absolutely not,” Leffel countered, his voice starting to get angry, and with a spell silenced the music, “obviously, if you had been aware of your surroundings you would have known that this place is a reserve for a lot of special creatures. Reading the guidelines lets everyone know what the expectations are. How would you feel if one of these fellows found its way into your room?”. Even as an onlooker, the scene was starting to become intolerable. Straightening her posture, the girl glared into his eyes, “And who do you think you are, Echo?”. Realizing that the youth could probably take her grandson in a fight, she intervened, slapping them a handful of onsuru coins so they would abscond back to the portion. “Cmon, these park rangers are total losers” she growled, climbing into the passenger’s seat. “Empress, those kids needed to be taught some ethics, I really wish you would have let me deal with them in my fashion” he protested, turning away from the departure. Laughing, she summoned a replacement mahjong board, “Maybe on another occasion, but we don’t get time like this often”. “My word, that was quick” she sighed, seeing the academy children fuss about the contraption in the distance. By then Larry was well exhausted, and with a quick cheerio to them shepherded the children back to the classroom bus and packed up the Rube Goldberg Machine onto the back of a truck. “Patron, this has been really nice, we should try it again sometime” Echo mused. “By all means, and I have a present for you” he furnished, holding up the walking stick in his right hand. “Did you think that I brought this simply for show? It’s actually not what you think. I picked it up at the store earlier on the way here and thought you might like it. It’s a nose scratcher” Leffel indicated, causing the staff to retract to manageable hand-held proportions. “I love you grandson”, she replied, then for effect thrust the stick into her nose, itching it back and forth with gusto, displaying a wide beaming goofy smile. Heartily both of them laughed so loudly so as to fluster Larry as he drove past, spinning the wheel to see what was amiss. Like a quick chain reaction, the vehicle swerved down the incline, hitting a tree. “I’m all right, it’s just a dent, '' Larry swore as they pulled him from the driver’s seat, taking one shaky
step on the ground then righting his stance. Larry wiped the creases off his shirt then turned to see the condition. “Huh?” he gasped. “The Rube Goldberg Machine fell off of the back of the truck into the pond when you crashed” Echo relayed tentatively as the three of them directed their attention to the shore. Pacing to the edge, a ripple spread across the length of the waters.
Leffel blinked and looked down at his hands. Unmistakable phenomenological vibrations dashed over her body from the patron, thrusting her into clearer consciousness, tracing her back through the long ages. Tan walls of the Castle Rieuvi, and of the well of silence, and of the circular ripple that brought about Leffel to console her when divided from her true parents in the Moment flashed into existence. “Do you recall how I came about as a circular ripple?” she could hear him think through the fiefdom. Images and concepts whirled in her mind like the gears of the machine, culminating to a precise action, a sentence that she could feel as it left her own lips,
“Now we know ''.
CHAPTER 40 - TIMECURRENT SAVES THE COLONISTS
After the first one hit, Timecurrent ran from the epicenter of the city, her chest pumping like something hammered by a blacksmith. Behind her the conflagration grew, its crown red with billowing ruffles. Yet another followed, its crimson overlapping with the first. The horrible vagueness of it swallowing a building. Ahead of her, in the newly assembled city, the colonists were reeling. Baby blue hair outrun the worst of it as she made her way to the council chamber.
There, in the space age interior, families huddled together for sympathy. “I didn’t hear anything about the asteroids” a colonist spat, scolding those who had overstepped their bounds. It was the captain of the neo-frigate, cooling off after a lost poker game. Incensed, the other man got in his face and rolled up his sleeves. Time put him in slow motion before a fight ensued. “Are you just standing there? I need to get these people to safety. The port is four blocks away. We can make it if we leave now” the patron urged in a gasp of exigency. “Is it that bad, mam?” the captain asked. Time nodded her head to oust his disbelief. “The whole place is coming down. Get your gear and let’s go”. Forming into a train behind their leader, the patron led them out the door.
Above their heads, the sky was overwhelmed with streaks of fire, ripping the thin fabric of the stratosphere. A cluster of bombs mangled the city around them. Leaving fresh chaos in their wake. The sight of a dancing fireball engrossed her senses. Filling her every thought with adrenaline. “Step it up” Time hollered, across the inharmonious blistering din. Favorably, they made it past two and a quarter blocks. At once the patron looked up to the sky to see the full scope of nature’s ultimatum. “Hey … those aren’t asteroids!” she belted. Time stopped short in astonishment. They were freaking T-Rex Heads blazing through the atmosphere in halos of flame. Toothy grins pointed to the ground. Razor sharp. “Did they gobble up a galaxy?” Time wondered. At that moment, her heart felt like a guy who had just been punched in the face by another guy on a roller coaster who had just been headbutt by another guy on a better rollercoaster. And it fucking hurt. The T-Rex head landed in front of them, burgeoning with a marvel of a flame. The people behind her threw their hands on each other’s shoulders. They tucked down as a ripple made its way across the pavement. Time could not look away from the ball of heat, and saw it twist in weird circular motions. RAAA!!! The T-Rex thundered. A head with a body of pure, elemental flame. The dinosaur was complete. It stomped mercilessly towards them. Time could hardly believe her luck. Flecks of inferno spun and escaped from the backside of the beast. It lowered its head and approached them with ease. A primitive with untamed excitement across its face. Time took a step back as a bit of fire spilled from its mouth
like drool. She lifted her hands and manifested a time lapse of prodigious strength. Invisible to the others, pristine wrinkles made their way through another dimension. Undulating as her fingers did. Caught unawares, the beast was sent backwards in time, walking back to the swell of its arrival, and reabsorbed the halo. It rocketed up through the canopy of the sky, across leagues of black abyss. Towards another world. Time led the flustered colonists across the remainder of the city. Happily, the port was still intact. With the help of the captain, they all boarded the neo-frigate and glided it out of there. Time relaxed her weary back against a plush seat cushion. A viewing window was to their left. Little zigzags of light across a canvas of black painted their escape. The refugees made it to their seats in one piece, unpacking what little belongings they had. The chair was unnaturally warm for a space-seat. Heating pads melted away the pain. Time fell unconscious and had the best Zzzz of her life.