The Place that can’t be Found!

CHRISTIE wasn't particularly scared of the Graveyard Islands. What she was scared of was the thing that was on the island. She had been having dreams about it for days now, when she heard about Jasmines' dream, she knew Jasmine had the same suspicions as she did. But the real question was whether or not she is going to tell the others what they are up against.

They sailed through the night, in the middle of nowhere. Christie thought about the legends and tales she'd read of Graveyard Island, they called it 'the place that can't be found' or 'the island that doesn't exist'. It made sense that such an impossible place was hidden in a splinter realm, a pocket dimension inaccessible by normal means. Which was why the aestyrometer was such a godsend; it could theoretically guide them to any place they wanted to go. Christie had always been fascinated by stories of the mythical travelers, inter-dimensional explorers that could cross to other planes of existence beyond earth and its extra realms. It was a childhood dream of hers to find the famed Traveler's Lodge, adrift somewhere in the multiverse, holding all their secrets.

Ryan came up behind her, spooking her "Is this spot taken?"

She was pulled out of her thoughts, she looked at him and smiled, "Nope."

He joined her, staring out at the unknown, "So what's a splinter realm anyway, and why do we need that thing to find it?" he asked

"A splinter realm is like any of the other realms, a pocket dimension, only it's adrift in the void, untethered. An independent plane of existence with its own rules. There aren't that many of them, but they intersect with out world from time to time, just long enough for some poor bastard to accidentally stumble into one and be lost forever." Christie explained,

"And we're going to use that to find it?" Ryan asked, gesturing to the aestyrometer, "that doesn't look like any compass I've ever seen,"

It was an odd device, a complex polyhedron configuration [I checked, its called a rhombicosidodecahedron], with intricate engravings of glyphs and sigils covering its surface. What was wilder was the fact that it was also like a Rubik's cube, with dials that moved along a central axis, which would change the sigil formation of the glyphs engraved onto it. At the top was a depression with a perfect spherical gemstone embedded into it that glowed along with the complete sigils. 

"It's not really a compass, but more of a way-finder." she chuckled, "and its not going to find the splinter realm, the skull is."

Ryan looked at her funny, so she elaborated,

"The skull is an ikors anchor, it's connected to the splinter realm by a strong fate, the aestyrometer is going to guide us there using the ikors anchor as a focus." she explained, "According to legend, the travelers could use these things to navigate the void, stepping from one plane to another, effortlessly."

"These travelers sound pretty cool,"

"They probably were, though the arkans say that they died out long ago." she sighed, "Aestyrometers like this are one of the few things left that prove they ever existed. They were designed to somehow attune to circumstances, which are wild and unpredictable."

She twisted one of the dials, forming a new sigil, and the gemstone glowed from orange to green. "These things were the first piece of adaptive technology ever invented, as a new sigil was formed with every twist. It was said that whoever used these held fate in their hands; one wrong read and we could end up lost forever in the void."

Ryan seemed to notice her worried expression, "Christie, I promise you; we will get out of here." He took her hand

She gazed in his eyes, "I want to believe you Ryan, but we don't even know what we're doing."

"Yeah, we've improvised, a lot," Ryan said, "But I think that we can do this, once we get to the Graveyard Islands, it's just a matter of letting things play out like Lady Onruu said, then we leave."

Christie looked away, she knew that if she looked into those intense blue eyes, she might just start believing him. "Ryan, you're the best roommate I've ever had."

"Just roommates, huh? I figured by now we'd have worked our way up to friends, or at least close acquaintances?" Ryan smiled, "speaking of which, we haven't been at the sanctum in at most two weeks, I wander if they've notices us?"

Christie laughed, "Believe me, they would notice you missing."

Ryan yawned, "Well, I guess I'm heading in, g'night." He said then he left.

Christie sighed, "Yeah, G'night."

… )]≥( …

Ryan dropped like a rock when he found a bed. In his dreams, he saw the cave again, it was just as surreal as the last time, it was the same scene as before, but he couldn't be sure; he's been having weird dreams for weeks, apparently all magi did.

"The final element approaches." Voice one said

"Yes," Said voice two, "We must ensure that it arrives at the temple safely."

Voice three bellowed, "It is not up to us. The others approach also."

"And do they have the sacrifices?" Said voice two,

"Yes, the sacrifices have been prepared." the voice replied, "events are falling into place, even the guardian has been roused… it awaits the storm child."

"He will make a fine vessel." Voice one said,

The other voices murmured in dissent 

"What?"

"Events are not unfolding as we envisioned" one of the voices offered,

The other voice sounded in agreement

"fate is constantly in flux" the first voice reassured, "it was expected that there would be deviations."

Then, the vision shifted until he was at a house, where a couple cuddling on a couch by the fireplace. They both had their hands on the woman's swollen belly; it was obvious that she was several months pregnant. Ryan realised with a jump that the couple were his parent, which meant… 

"He'll look like you, y'know." His mom said,

"Oh yeah? And how do you know that, Julia?" his dad asked

"A mother just knows these things," she said, "It's how we're programmed."

"Well I guess since I'm not a mother, I wouldn't know."

"Well, it's true you don't have the natural intuition of a great mother like I do, lots of people don't, but you'll still make an okay dad I guess."

"Oh, and how do you know that? Your 'mother's intuition', again?"

She looked at him, "No silly, because I know you, better than you know yourself. And if you're not a good dad, you'll answer to me."

"Yikes, well I certainly don't want to get into trouble with you, do I?" His dad laughed

His mom then gasped and made a surprised face, "He's kicking up a storm tonight, isn't he? Is that normal? Maybe we should get the doctor back here. What if something's wrong?"

His dad chuckled, "Well, at least we know being pregnant hasn't affected your knack for overreacting. The doctor just left, he said you were fine, and so is he."

"Well what does he know? He doesn't have a tiny person growing in his belly like a cute little parasite." his mom huffed, spurring his dad to laugh,

"I think the doctor can know more than you about your pregnancy sometimes," his dad said, "He did say you'll be a bit scared since it's your first baby."

"What should we call him?" His mom asked,

"The doctor?" Ryan's dad joked, "I think he already has a name."

"No, you blockhead, the baby. What should we name our son?"

"How about Marcus?"

"I am not naming my child after that muscle-brained oaf you used to look up to." she rebuffed, "What about Nathan?"

"We cant name him after my childhood hero, but your deadbeat father is okay?" his dad argued

She shrugged, "Fine, we're naming him Matthias then."

"Matthias?"

"It's a good strong name," his mom rebuffed, "I always wanted to meet someone named Matthias," 

"Matthias Reins?" his dad questioned, "are you sure about that?"

"Do you have a problem with it?" she glowered

His dad smiled, "No, it sort of works, similar to my name. I'm just wandering what his middle name's going to be? I think it should be Ryan, after my grandfather."

"Matthias Ryan Reins?"

His mom laughed, "You have to admit, it does have a nice ring to it."

"Does it?"

"Shut up, you know you like it too."

"Okay, he will definitely have your smile Julia."

"And he'll have your knack for getting into trouble, I can just tell." His mom rolled her eyes,

"My knack for getting into trouble? Are you forgetting the person who crashed an airship into the bay?"

"As I'll keep defending; it wasn't my fault. The steering was defective." His mom protested, "Let's just say we both are very good at finding trouble."

"So let's hope he meets someone who knows how to handle him."

"Yeah, a nice, gentle girl, like me." His mom smiled, "And before you say anything, just know; I know where you sleep."

"Julia, there isn't anyone else like you." her dad chuckled

"Of course not, you can't copy perfection." his mom boasted, "you're lucky I settled for a clod like you… especially after you dated my sister."

His father laughed, taking her in his arms and pulling her into a warm embrace.

"Well, I didn't realize the way I felt about you back then," he smirked, "we got out signals mixed and I ended up with the wrong sister until you sorted me out."

They kissed, then the scene changed and Ryan found himself at a cemetery, the sky was gray and dark. Stephanie stood before a large tombstone, written on it was;

Matthew Victor Reins

August 24th 1952 — December 17th 1999

A true Ranger; the kindest among men and the greatest among legends

&

Julia Penelope Reins

April 19th 1958 — December 17th 1999

A devoted Sister, Ranger, Wife, and Friend; she was a true diamond in the ruff

Stephanie had bandages over her arms and neck, with stitches on a fresh wound above her right eye, in her arms, baby Ryan was sleeping.

"Matt, Jules, I should have done more to get you out of there." Stephanie lamented, "What am I going to do now? I don't know the first thing about parenting. That was supposed to be your job, li'l sis."

Baby Ryan started stirring, Stephanie face softened.

"Oh, you're up, huh, kid? Well I brought you to see your mommy and daddy, but just this once, okay? I'm gonna be taking care of you now, and I'm going to give you a normal life, like she wanted."

Then, Stephanie feels a presence. She turns around, seeing no one there.

"C'mon little Ryan, I hope you don't mind me calling you by your middle name. It's more distinguished, way better than your first name, my sister really loved weird names." Stephanie said, "Let's go house shopping, but first, I need to find out what babies eat."

Ryan woke up with a jump, he looked around, nothing, he looked out the porthole and saw nothing but white mist.

He steadied his breathing, then got up. He then heard a purring sound and turned around to see the schadenkhat cub looking up at him from the bundle on the bunk.

"Hey there," Ryan said, picking it up, "how was your night?"

"Aw, that's adorable." Jasmine said walking into the room with Christie, "you finally have some endearing qualities in my eyes;you're sweet on animals,"

"What are you going to call him?" Christie asked

"it's a him?" Ryan wondered, he hadn't actually bothered to check.

"idiota" Jasmine says, rolling her eyes,

"How about… Lex?" Christie said

"No," Jasmine said, "what about Aldin?"

"For a schadenkhat?" Chritie argued, "that doesn't sound right."

"How about Riot?" Ryan said

"Riot?" Christie asked

"Yeah, I had a cat named Riot when I was younger, and this little guy reminds me of him." Ryan said, scratching its ear

"Huh, never figured you for a cat guy," Jasmine said

"Yeah," Ryan said, "had a hard time making friends when I was really young, and Stephanie figured I needed a pet to compensate."

"What happened to it?" Christie asked

"Don't really know," Ryan mused, "actually, I don't remember a lot from that time in my life. I never brought it up to Stephanie, figured it was best not worry about it."

Jasmine and Christie exchange a look,

"Anyway," Christie stated, "that's as good a name as any."

"Riot it is then." Jasmine announced.

Riot made a silent meow that could've been a roar, accepting the name and they all laughed.