All sentient life is connected. The appendages may be different, we may eat different things, and live in different universes, but at the end of the day, we’re all one big family.
It’s time to explore the branches of the multiversal family tree, and today, we present:
(Node 2 Talj Junction Earth Year 2044)
Amazing Alius and the Masters of the Universe
– Issue 1 – There’s Something About Whadgaf
“You are weak. You’ve been meditating with the Kazi pacifists for too long. There’s only so much you can learn from those cute, furry little fellows, and for what comes next, you’re going to need more than peace and an open mind.”
Ali is angry and he wants to punch Whadgaf Jiris in her beak. But he knows that not reacting with anger when she provokes him makes her angry, so he smiles and stands, brushing the dust from his pants. He removes the belt tied at his waist and the two sides of his shirt flap in the wind. He removes the shirt, his body glistening with sweat. The tails of the black band tied at his forehead waft long behind him showing the movement of the winds around them.
“Nice monkey,” Whadgaf says. “Show me your glistening muscles. It pleases me.”
“You do know that the Kazi are some of the best hand to hand fighters in the universe?” Ali asks. “You know that there are more than a few masteries that require sensations that can only be experienced in a brawl. Those cute, furry monks, the oldest of the them, would have you on your face by now.”
“Is that true?” Whadgaf says and she raises her light brown wings that are tinged with gray. Her wingspan is impressive and they make her properly intimidating. “Show me how they do it. The Pito are nothing to trifle with, monkey boy. You saw what they did to the Bludonians, turned those docile amphibians into power hungry wretches that nearly turned your beloved mountains to red powder. Did the old ones rise up to use these fighting skills you speak of to stop them? No, they did not. They relied on intervention from a mysterious being of light who swooped in to save the day. Swooped in to stop the mad Bludonians and to agitate the real threat behind their crazed desire to conquer the universe. Where was your savior when the Pito sucked Bludon dry and then went to Galanta, a planet of nothing but beings with good souls, and wrapped them in their silks, draining the weak of their lives and turning the strong into their slaves? Where is your savior now that they are currently doing it again on some other unsuspecting planet? They are coming for us, for Wiis, for Eel, for Earth. And who knows when they will arrive? I don’t. Maybe we should ask your savior.”
Ali shakes his head. Everything she is saying is very true and many of his allies have been petrified about the future since the mysterious being calling himself Lêgba arrived to help the Kazi stop the Bludonians once and for all. Everyone expected peace, Lêgba had promised it, but then he disappeared and the Kazi collectively experienced the trauma of every being on Bludon screaming out in psychic agony as their planet was destroyed and the Bludonian species was wiped from the universe. Shortly after the destruction of Bludon, a very casual female voice spoke to the mind of every living being in the universe who could understand. The voice introduced itself, then explained that because the Bludonians had met with so much resistance conquering the universe, the Pito would soon arrive to every inhabited world in the universe and do to them what had been done to Bludon. And when all possible resistance was eliminated, the entire universe would be razed for its resources before it was too inert to ever restart its life cycle. The Kazi felt the destruction of every planet that was lost to these Pito that no one alive had ever seen or could describe other than the female voice that taunted the things still alive. No one had ever seen the Pito, except for Whadgaf Jiris, who was traveling from Galanta just as it was taken over by the Pito, and she only escaped because of her impeccable skills as a pilot and a fighter.
“I didn’t come here to fight you,” Ali says, hoping to get this interaction back on track. “I mean, I came to Wiis to find you and see if the rumors were true. I wanted to know if you had actually faced the Pito and how you survived them, so I did come here to train with you because you are a formidable warrior. But I am not your enemy. You know better than any one that the only chance we have, the only chance that this universe has, is for all of its strongest warriors to fight together against the Pito.”
“They are so white,” Whadgaf says. Her wings seem tense at her back and her gaze is distant. “So white that its like everything around them is being sucked in and disappearing. They’re walking, talking voids. They told me that I was strong enough to join them if I would relent, or I could join the beings of Galanta and fuel them in their quest of destruction. I didn’t think that I would escape them. I was sure that I was going to die and I detonated my ship to take as many of them with me as I could manage. I woke up, floating space in my suit that could survive the void, barely alive and only saved because of curious investigators who came to confirm what the voice had said to everyone. I am afraid, Ali. I want to believe that there is hope for us and our universe, but they are so strong. They are stronger than me. And you are not. The Kazi are not. No one is strong enough.”
Ali shakes his head and he feels hopeless for the first time since he left Earth more powerful than any Earthling had a right to be, powerful enough to impress what he thought were the most powerful beings in existence. This can’t be how it ends, he thinks to himself.
“If it is the end,” he says, “I will meet it fighting to my last breath. If I have to get stronger, I will find a way. I won’t give up Whadgaf. You shouldn’t either. If this can be done, we will do it together.”
Whadgaf lowered her wings and crossed her arms over there chest. “You have trained with the Kazi. Maybe you can handle the training of the Weris.”
“I have Weris companions, Pen and Kal Nuren are Kazi.”
“Exactly,” Whadgaf says, “they are Kazi. Pen comes from a family of legendary Weris, as do most of the Kazi from Wiis, but they are Kazi, not Weris. They give up a lot to become Kazi. I came back to Wiis because the Weris stand the best chance of stopping the Pito from destroying their planet. If you are serious about training, I will take you to the strongest Weris on the planet. Have you heard of the Weris Sharp?”
“Only bad things,” Ali admits. “They are criminals, a cartel, who use their power to intimate.”
“The cartel is not the Weris Sharp, they use Sharp techniques. The true Weris Sharp are more monkish than the Kazi, but they strengthen their bodies, not just their minds. But no being alien to Wiis can withstand the rigors of Weris Sharp techniques, though I assume that will not stop you from coming with me.”
“If I will get stronger, if I can challenge the Pito, then no, that will not stop me,” Ali says.
“Fine, come with me. And just to be clear, I won this fight, handily.” Whadgaf walks away from Ali into the grass covered hills.
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