The Star 12

The Cole impression carefully peeked from a crack in the cave lip and reported back what it saw before getting ready to reluctantly finish what it was ordered to do. In a panic, Sonny stopped it and recalled the shadowy cat back.

With a sense of dread, he told Oliver, "I was wrong. Things are a whole lot-"

His words were cut off by an explosion coming from deeper in the tributary's caved out long cave. Loose dust, a few sifts of sandy grains and chips of stone rained down. As if it had been some kind of signal, the man outside the cave pocketed the diamond and tossed the head in. Moments later, it too was sealed with a fall of debris.

For the sake of safety, the two had to run further back in. A calm bubble of clean air was revealed around them as the rest was choked with a thick cloud of disturbed dust. As Sonny felt more panicked, the sniper actually looked more calm.

He whispered, "All we have to do is hug the highest part of the collapse. The surface isn't that far above us and I have a blaster cap too, remember. They think we are trapped but this trap will work on whatever might come to us from the other side. Can your armor protect you from heavy blunt force or... It looks kind of thin and flexible."

Sonny said, "It's good against dispersal of force and energy, even persistent uniform pressure. But if we're talking about a crushing linear weight, not so much."

To demonstrate, he slapped his thigh and then slowly poked his hip. The first produced a barely discernible ripple but the second pushed in with little resistance.

Pushing Oliver's hand away when the guy reached out to try a couple of armor experiments, he said, "It's worth checking out, I guess. By the way, I think every survivor and the rest of the-What did you call them?- away team security are down here at the shallow lake. I don't know what's going on but I may have jumped the gun on our overseer.

"It may have been that he had planned on killing everyone to begin with. There might be a secret here and the overseer wanted to keep it that way. They were acting ruthless and uncaring because subconsciously, they had already condemned everyone who came here to death."

Oliver was muttering some guesswork as to where certain 'outstanding' features probably came from, wanting to go back in time and 'crush' Sonny's mom under some lateral weight, when what the young adept was saying brought his attention back to focus.

He was spared the ugly face Sonny was making inside the featureless helmet at the thought of the man laying hands on a young Cassandra, as he said, "That would line everything into a clearer picture with what I know. It's a younger, ambitious person with insider information that feels like they can get away with using Blue Zone resources like personal property. With your background, I doubt you've had the displeasure of meeting an Alliance blue blood."

Shaking away the remnants of unpleasant images produced by his imagination replacing his dad with Oliver in a particularly awkward memory, Sonny replied, "I'm pretty sure I have but don't remember. Either way, I don't have to meet one to get how people born into privilege can treat those less fortunate. Give anyone authority and you can see eventual abuse but nothing quite as horrifying as someone who believes they're owed it and hungry for more."

They hadn't been idle while whisper chatting. The sniper had found a good sized slanting slab of stone close to the top of the previous cave-in. They began pulling a little rubble from the center while shoring up the sides to provide a fairly decent dug out.

By the time four blips lit up on Sonny's life sense, Oliver was already finding the perfect place to wedge the blaster cap. "Bet you're glad we weren't in a hurry to use it now."

Quickly getting into place after a warning delivered by the young adept, the sniper positioned himself belly down in the dugout while lining up a comfortable bead on the blaster cap with his rifle. Sonny was straddled over him to brace for random debris and 'coincidentally' provide more protection for Oliver.

Sonny leaned down and whispered in the sniper's ear, "This would be the perfect opportunity to get some revenge for that comment earlier but I'd rather make mom comments taboo. Can I get an amen on some things being a little too sacred to the best parts of us for them to be used in filthy jokes?"

"Do you know what you sound like with your helmet on? You got my agreement but can I get an amen on you never whispering in my ear while you're behind me suited up. I feel like the boogeyman just asked me to pray while he was getting ready to hurt me or something," Oliver whispered nervously.

Chuckling, Sonny was about to reply when the sniper asked him to be quiet. Their prey was coming into view and he needed to be as focused as he could be. He wasn't so much worried about missing the target but missing the perfect timing.

A slightly older man in his late thirties said, "We've already past where the rubble starts. Looks like your sergeant got them after all. Wait, I can sense their two mental signatures coming from farther in. They're still alive but buried."

The man in charge barked an order at two others to go investigate. The air was still rather dusty and looked gloomy under the illumination of their chemical lights. In a burst of inspiration, Sonny pulled in his aura as tight as he could while draping the over robe a little more thoroughly around them.

"I can't sense one of them anymore and the other's signal just got weaker," the man suddenly added.

The one in charge said gruffly, "Be that as it may, I was ordered to get as visual a confirmation as possible. Hurry over there and point out the last one before it goes dark, then. You're going to be digging rubble until I see a body or solid obstruction too heavy to move without equipment."

Whoever it was directing things from the back, he was smart. The problem was, outsmarting a cave-in was a difficult task. That went for the cautious supervisor and the two fugitives in the dugout. When the sniper found his 'right moment' and took the shot, the deep rumble that still continued after the initial ear deafening event, made his and Sonny's heart drop.

All total, the long cave carved out by the creek and gathering tributary, as it went further down, had experienced four controlled explosions over a relatively short period of time. The one at the very top that had exposed the cowering archer hadn't been too affecting but the one that took out the east side of the shallow lake's wall had been incredibly detrimental to the entire structure's stability.

Collapsing the cave entrance hadn't done any kindnesses to anything. But the blaster cap strategically wedged decently into the spreading crack, started from the cave mouth, had been a lot more impactful than it normally would or even should have been. The result was more than a cave in. The top layer above had been knocked loose of the caldera wall into a landslide.

With the added pressure of the increased gravity, the entire cave collapsed in. There had been little time. But fearing the worst, Sonny had bolstered their stony dugout with as much mending power as he could in the resulting few seconds of brace time.

Ultimately, it hadn't been much of anything that Sonny or the sniper had did that saved them. It was the instinctive actions of the unknown impression laying dormant within the young adept. Sensing impending death, the semi-sentient pattern reached out for the only resource available to allow it to act, a barrel filled with potent divine mead.

Sonny's subconscious cry for any and all help may have granted the most free acting autonomy possible but some things needed his conscious approval or action. An impression taking physical form was one of those things. Fortunately, there were remnants of another dormant material and pattern rattling around inside the young adept's innermost secret spaces.

Beyond that, there was a forgotten conduit with its own instincts. The actions of the unknown impression, stirred an old hunger that had once been denied the spread out and intimately integrated phantom key because the item attempting to be reconstructed with the impression's help had been far more useful to its possessor independently than what it would have provided as additional resources to the conduit.

In a chain reaction of events, the final outcome wasn't determined by the course of action started by either the impression or the hazy, protean will of the key. The Deathless Mound swallowed the ensuing chaotic result along with a massive release of nearby energy and usable resources. From an academic standpoint, such an event was a great tragedy of its own.

An artifact of unknown power, origin and purpose had been buried within the folds of the volcano for untold amounts of time. It would continue remaining forgotten and undiscovered for all time as it had effectively ceased to be, between the crushing collapse of its protected resting place and indirect consumption by the Deathless Mound. For good or ill, its untold potential had been reduced to little more than fueling the salvation of a few insignificant lives.

***

Orison once again stirred dangerously in his slumber as he waited for his vessel to grow strong enough to house him. Either that or for the Deathless Mound to naturally restrain enough of his potency to safely reach out to material existence through a physical vessel. That time was not yet upon him. Even so, the echo of his existence that did persist within physical reality, brushed far too close to the source of its origin.

In an insane moment of brilliance, he saw a way to not only save himself from having to start from scratch but also sever unfortunate ties of fate. Many people had suffered needlessly for being contaminated with the curse of his spiritual ruin when it existed. With the remnant power of the unknown artifact and a deeply unstable area of the Enigma Plains close by, he performed a feat of entanglement that nearly woke him completely.

Doing what needed done, he settled back down into a deep spiritual trance. His last conscious thoughts dwelt on the nature of the unknown artifact and the mysteries of the Enigma Plane. He concluded that the Blue Zone was a dumping ground for any and everything that this universe's highly ordered will did not approve of. That suited Orison just fine.

***

Sonny appeared in a small belch of primordial black mud sprinkled with varying sized pieces of raw diamonds filled with positive energy and black opals that gave off potent spiritual resonance. His childhood was crystal clear but the rest of his memories were filled with experiences and knowledge not his own. A message held by the shadowy cat inside his head gave a list of instructions on what he needed to do to claim his own lost memories and much more.

He would have been upset at it all but there was a happy, light tone in the instructions. And even though Sunny had to be very careful about not interacting with his environment too much, it held specific things he could do for fun during waiting periods if simply following the instructions got too boring. Whoever had written the note, they seemed to care that his journey was as pleasant as possible.

While he took some time to pick up the supernatural gems, he followed a spiritual line that stretched out into the distance. According to the note, once everything was done, the line would pull him back through to where he came from using a place called the Twisted Lands. It wasn't just a lifeline back, it also served the purpose of allowing him to channel some greater being's energy and helped regulate something called power of existence. Without it, he would have done something terrible to the bright and colorful world around him just by being there.

Once he was done collecting the useful gems, he looked towards the cracked stone his physical form had sprang from. Beside it, slightly bruised, was a special flower. It was busy trying to take in the enriching remnants of essence within the black mud that had spilled near it. Carefully, he transplanted the flower into a pot he had shaped from the black mud with little more than a thought. He finished the transplanting off by mixing some mud with local soil and packing it loosely around the spiritual plant.

The first part of his strange adventure was relatively simple. He packed the flower carefully with a note. Inside the crate was a couple of the gems as well. An amused dragon read the note delivered with the valuable cargo and what he saw peaked his jaded curiosity. Not long after, a certain tribal fey lady was summoned to read the note as well. Since it was something originally meant to happen, events fell into place with little outside interference. And because of a certain power that surrounded Sonny, another who would eventually try to interfere found that his time manipulating powers weren't up to the task.

First task complete, Sonny used another portion of the Twisted Lands to play around with a tribe of people in a planar shard that would never cross paths with the events he was meant to involve himself in. There, he spent time indulging in and shaking off remnants of unfulfilled childhood. To reward them for treating him so warmly, he warned the gentle giant folk of a tragedy that would come to their plane and a way to avoid it.

It was sad to part ways with them but it was also a relief. Due to his size and unchanging youthfulness there was always a part of even his playmates that treated him as an eternal child. As happy as it had made him in the beginning, it had became a sore spot in his relationships with them later on. Four personal yet several hundred Amoril years later, he was drawn back for his next important task.

***

Young Gan was terrified and beside himself with grief. As he returned with a large band of Lord Whiteriver's men, he found that his two friends had miraculously survived. Though they were in bad shape, not a single one of their wounds would leave much behind save for a badge of their bravery. It was a mystery of how they had managed to hide from their pursuers but none of the offending Forsaken or their monstrous pets were alive to tell the tale once the Lord's men had dealt with them.

Later, in a dark and secluded portion of the feast hall, Gan's friend and mentor bared his soul and true feelings to the young scout. His brush with death and miraculous survival gave him the courage to face the most challenging enemy he ever would in his life, his own self loathing. His courage was returned with a small and not as certain but willing reply from Gan.

Life moving forward would not be easy for the two in a land that couldn't accept them as they truly were. But despite that, they loved it still and would spend their lives defending it. And so would Gan's other friend, who in time, would become the wife of his lover and the secret wife of a certain famous man's female band leader.

In a twist of events, three friends welcomed a fourth named Halda to their midst. The young bar wench had dreams of opening a special house of healing that dealt with the wounds of the mind and heart. Gan, being a man whose heart was much greater than his physical desires alone had the power to deny, came to love his wife as greatly as his first love.

And though life was not always sweet, sometimes even painful, their lives promised to be full and well lived. Once little Amos, Gan and Halda's son, came into the picture, life became sweet indeed. After a few months of Amos' contagious affection filled smiles, Gan's shield brother and heart sister had endeavored to have a joy of their own. Around a year later, Little Oleander came into the world, surrounded by four people who fussed over her relentlessly, a lady band leader that spoiled her rotten and a curious toddler who would come to love her more fiercely than all five of the adults combined. After all, their love was fated.

***

After a treacherous and giddy passing through a poorly carved out mountain pass, Sonny moved on to his next target. Playing peeping tom to others' happy lives for a year and a half had been filled with moments of enjoyment but also pain and envy. A deepening sense of loneliness had begun to take root within him but he had a mission and promised rewards at the end to spur him on.

Slinking into an opened summer window slat, Sonny lifted the mosquito net hanging around a bed. Not that the teenage boy sleeping on said bed really needed it. The house smelled so strongly of cedar and lavender that an asthmatic or someone with a sensitive nose would have perished from it, much less keep the blood suckers away.

With a thought, the young adept's mind space opened up to release a handful of spiritually charged motes. They briefly formed a ghostly bow before merging into the sleeping teen's head. Moments later, the teen thrashed but didn't awaken. As Sonny made his way back out, two shadowy phantoms were pulled past him to merge with the sleeping teenage Cray. Slipping back into the woods, he saw a few more glowing motes whiz towards the house.

He was about to sigh in satisfaction over a job well done when a weak mental voice said, "Why run off so quickly, old friend? Ah... I suppose I should say young friend for the time being. You're not exactly yourself right now."