Lorv was worried about what was coming. She was on the Disc of Agê preparing for the worst, when she felt a familiar feeling. It was accompanied by a distant, faraway sound that was easy to ignore, but once she heard it, she would hear it for hours. Eventually, she found Raius who was at the House of Agê that straddles the forest and jungle sides of the Disc.
“I have to leave for a while, will you be alright until I return?” she asked him as he oversaw the training of dwellers of the Disc in mystical combat.
“I’m fine,” he said distractedly. “Anything I need to know about?”
“No, just something I need to see about, I should be back very soon.”
Lorv flew away from the Disc, concentrating on the distant sound, and before long she realized what she was chasing, but how was it possible that she was hearing it in the Fonlands? The sound led her to the Shifting Planes of the Disc of Lêgba where many of the recruits from the multiverse who would accompany the Vodun into battle against the enemy in their home-realm were gathering. It wasn’t long before she found the female Earther with the large humanoid-deer female with elaborate horns and a dark coating of fur on one of the shifting planes. Lorv was wide-eyed as she landed. The Earther and the humanoid deer were sitting opposite one another and between them was a large vase that contained eight Purple Mysticism.
“Are those the eight mysticisms from the shrine of the Mystic Ogeran?” she asked, never taking her eyes from the flowers that seemed to glow even brighter than she remembered.
“They are,” a male who appeared to be a humanoid kangaroo in a golden body suit that covered his tail said as he landed on the platform opposite Lorv. “You must be Lorv of the Rocky Forests. I am Wazad, also known as Sao-Reyne of the Fhetat.”
“How do you know me?” Lorv asked, full of curiosity about the situation that was unfolding. She had many questions.
“The same way you know about Ogeran’s Mysticisms, I too am a Mystic of Fytor,” Sao-Reyne said with a smile. “Since the incorporation of Outer Spacetime into the Fonlands, I have focused my attention on monitoring Prime 5 for the presence of the coming enemy and I ended up on Rycoia by accident, or so I thought. The Mystics had summoned me to find out why their connection to Outer Spacetime was severed and they wanted to know what happened. I spent more time on Rycoia than I intended because there was so much to learn. I would still be there if not for the arrival of Sarah and her friend Par-Cell 77,” Sao-Reyne said and the female Earther Sarah stood; the deer-like female Par-Cell 77 remained seated but she was tall enough that they all continued their conversation easily. “When she entered the Fonlands, the Mysticisms of Ogeran began to sing, and I brought them here at the behest of the Mystics, and the Mysticisms themselves.”
Lorv was overwhelmed by the story. She looked at Sarah who had fair skin and dark hair and she wore simple clothing.
“Why do the Mysticisms call to you?” she asked Sarah and Par-Cell responded.
“She doesn’t know her heritage well enough to answer your question and things are complicated by the fact that these Mysticisms were presented to her in a universe other than the one she calls home. This is the daughter of Ogeran…”
“My father’s name is Jethro,” Sarah said. “Jethro Greenfoot. My name is Sarah Greenfoot.”
“I have told you that there was much your father kept from you,” Par-Cell said and Lorv felt sympathy for Sarah who seemed to struggle with the truth that had been hidden from her.
“He didn’t tell me his name was Ogeran when we saw him at the prison before coming here.”
“Why would he when he gave up his life as Ogeran before arriving to our Earth?” Par-Cell asked, still sounding sympathetic.
“This is how the Mystic Ogeran is said to have looked,” Lorv said and made a hologram of him using her green magic.
Sarah was taken aback, the resemblance to the man who had raised her was uncanny. “That’s him.”
“Not exactly,” Par-Cell said. “He was not a Mystic of Fytor in the Paradise universe. He was a being of lightning. Is the same true of the Rycoians here?”
“The Mystics display such a power, but it only appears in the most powerful of them,” Sao-Reyne explained. “A power that you share, Sarah, otherwise the Mysticisms would not have called to you.”
“But what does this mean?” Sarah asked, but before Sao-Reyne could respond, Owuo arrived.
“Who are you?” he asked Sao-Reyne as he descended on the platform that was growing more crowded. “What have you brought to the Shifting Planes?”
“The Purple Mysticisms of Ogeran give enhanced power to a mystic who is capable of wielding their power, and that is determined by the Mysticisms themselves. Ogeran could do it, and it seems his daughter has been chosen as well. I thought it was fitting considering what we all face.”
“Do you know what those Mysticisms are?” Owuo asked. “They contain nuisances that the Vodun and I saw fit to eliminate long ago. Who knows how they ended up in those flowers, but they are truly wretched. This girl of Paradise is meant to wield the banished death dealers of the Disc of Lêgba? That seems cruel to the girl. I don’t disagree that their powers could be brought to bear against the enemy, but we’d do better to unleash them on the enemy in their home realm.”
“If Ogeran were still in possession of the Mysticisms, he’d be a welcome addition to this gathering,” Lorv said. “But I thought Ogeran was long dead.”
“Maybe we should recruit her father in Paradise,” Owuo says.
“Why do you doubt her ability to wield the powers of these mysticisms?” Par-Cell asked, offended on Sarah’s behalf.
“Because she needs you to speak for her,” Owuo retorts, “and a presence so meek will be a weak vessel for the powers in those flowers to dominate, overload, and eventually escape. Let’s not set the girl up for failure.”
As Lorv and the others talked around Sarah, her eyes began to glow yellow-white and Sarah’s body began to spark with electricity that snapped and popped all around her until eventually everyone fell silent and moved to one side of the platform around Par-Cell to avoid the now powerful sparks that jumped off of Sarah. When she had their attention, she powered down.
“I don’t think I need these mysticisms,” Sarah says. “It’s too close to the fight for me to become familiar with something so new and strange anyway. Thank you Wazad, but I won’t be using these.”
“I’m glad that we have come to an agreement,” Owuo said as everyone shifted to their original positions on the platform. “We should all leave these here and I will seal this platform while we discuss how we will deploy them in this time of war.”
Sao-Reyne agreed and everyone present went with Owuo to discuss the situation with the three Vodun who would lead forces into the home of their enemy.
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