PRL Crossover Event:
DEUS EX MACHINA
Introduction
The spider Anes was born as her mother and father copulated, rocketing through the Quinspace in a ball of ecstasy. The birth of a Quinspace being can occur during copulation, though some beings are carried in the womb, others hatch from eggs or appear magically in unexpected places, while others still just appear as if from nowhere, fully grown with attributes of some elder being that is believed to be its parent. A being of the Quinspace has a body that is similar to the body of a being of A-space, and they can enjoy feelings and sensations that would be familiar to a being of A-space.
Anes was born mid copulation and she spiraled out of the gooey trail her parents left in their wake; they had fallen from a pterodactyl in their ecstacy and because they were not in the immediate vicinity of an object with substantial gravity, they fell through the Quinspace, unaware that they had even given birth to a daughter.
Anes does not know the spiders who birthed her, but she knows who her father is. The great Anansi, one of the oldest living sons of the First Wave who has survived for millennia. He was created by Nareau, one of five of the First Wave that was a giant bug/spider. Anansi was a swarm compacted; his First Wave creator mashed an entire army of spiders and bugs into the being of Anansi when the battle against the Ascendant seemed lost and Anansi became his greatest son who continues the battle with his ancient foe. Anansi is the father of many children and many modern Quinspace spiders or bugs trace their lineage back to him.
Anes idolizes Anansi’s powers. He is as big as a mountain and he can siphon attention across long distances of the universe because he can influence the minds of beings of A-space and work his way into their dreams. He does this by accessing the mental realm, the realm of existence accessible to all sentient minds of the universe with concentration that represents the collective conscious energies that permeate space. The mental realm is like the boundary between the Quinspace and A-space; it requires access to both simultaneously and the result is an environment that is malleable to the whims of the inhabitants, depending on their savvy and control in the realm.
Though Anes had managed to escape after taking advantage of Anansi, her antics had not gone unnoticed. When Anansi awoke, he was the Quinspace Appalachian Mountains and he grumbled that there was no one feeding him. Then he felt weak, like he had been flying a lot and flexing the uncanny muscles that allowed him to extend or contract his limbs and create webs of exotic colors that could change the mood of anything ensnared depending on the web’s color. He remembered that before he had fallen asleep, a young spider had come to him, a pretty girl, and she had offered him a drink that he took because she was very complimentary. It was the size of a lake and she encanted to make the water swirl and fizzle, and she directed it into his mouth. It was sweet on the tongue and she kissed him. Anansi was always appreciative of grateful children. But then he fell asleep. Now, he summons Anes to summit him for conversation.
Anes has been trying to be optimistic despite her constant failure. The current soldier was the strongest yet and she worried that there was nothing she could do to regain her powers. But she would not give in to hopelessness. She had tricked the great Anansi and siphoned his power for months undetected, she was doing well for herself despite the handicap. The soldier was strong though, and she racked her brain for another scheme.
Then she heard his summons. Anansi was in her mind and she knew that he was aware of what she had done to him. She had to find him; it would be bad if he sent anything in search of her. So she skittered in the direction of his annoyed grumbles.
When she arrived at the summit, Anansi’s face appeared to her. He had two large eyes with many glassy panels and the mouth of a spider; his voice came as if it floated into her mind.
“I know what you’ve been up to and it is pitiful, pretty girl. How dare you give my wives a deer for their pleasure! You have made a fool of me.” Anansi chuckled and the head moved jovially. “And you are no closer to regaining your gifts? It was all for nothing. You are an embarrassment to our creator. Beings of the stiff world use your powers flippantly and they give you no sustenance? This is sad and I would obliterate you if it did not mean that the humans would continue their mockery unchecked, not that you have done much to check them. I will lend you my help, willingly this time, and I hope that you do succeed. If you do not, I fear that you will not survive the trial. Do you accept my help?”
Anes agrees. “There was a time when it would be shameful to be viewed as a disappointment to you, but right now I am just eager to get off this God forsaken mountain and to get my shit back, as they say. Let’s get this done. What have you got for me?”
Anansi laughs uproariously and when he calms, three spiders the size of Anes emerge onto the summit before her.
One of the spiders is completely white from head to toe, another is black, another is clear and Anes can only see the lines that define its shape in great detail like it had been sketched into reality with care.
“These three are yours to use carefully. They will each empower a being of A-space with a special skill and they will do whatever you tell them to do. You can communicate with them instantaneously with your thoughts across any distance.”
The spiders shrink as Anansi explains their function to Anes, and when they are the size of conventional spiders, they crawl to rest on her shoulder.
“Go and restore the fearsome name of the spider. Reclaim what is rightfully yours. I will be watching.”
Suddenly the huge body of Anansi begins to rumble and Anes feels it like an earthquake. Then she is flung from the summit and as the large mountain of his body slowly shifted and then took flight, he flew like all spiders did if there was no pterodactyl immediately available, quickly spinning a tight web into parachute-type constructs that would catch the currents of constantly swirling colors of the Quinspace that could be navigated with attention. Anes floated slowly to the ground using her own self-made parachute and she was gleeful to have the help of her great father. Her scheme, drugging him and distracting his wives, had impressed him, she knew, otherwise he would not have offered his help, even if her failure would mean her sure death.
Anansi traveled to the ocean and rested in the inky black waters of the Atlantic where he would spectate to ensure that Anes died if she failed to reclaim her powers. She would have to be completely inept to fail. Anansi had asked his three siblings, who were among the few not consolidated into his form by Nareau, for small pieces of themselves that he bonded to each of the spider-gifts in order to give Anes guidance as she utilized them in her schemes. She was special, Anansi knew and he hoped that she would survive this trial, but it would be entertaining to watch either way.
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This week:
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The epic showdown that has been brewing since Vol. II is finally here. Jamar has spent a lot of money to get rid of Clay, but it seems that he is going to have to get his own hands dirty. Is it just me, or is Jamar acting a little strange? He hasn’t really had the patience for words before.
Complex Repulsion (Diode Bk. 3): “Y’all ain’t slanging nothing so it ain’t no rival gang shit. You just a random, superpowered nigga that don’t like me and my business. I know we got a showdown to get to, and this is probably the last one right? This the dramatic finale, but before we get down to it, I just really need to know why, I wanna know how, y’all do what you do. You and your man up there could be chilling right now, I even sent a present to help with that, but no. You called me out here to throw down. Well, I’m here, you gone get what you want. Give me what I want. I just want to know.”
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Yuri is back and he has taken advantage of the Alia’s weakened position. But – SPOILER ALERT – it doesn’t last very long and the Alia is mad. Plus, Alia finds herself in a familiar location, but the familiar faces are acting very strange indeed. Seems to be catching this issue.
Alia (Amazing Alia, the Alia Bk. °): “In the chaos of their altercation, Alia had lost her connection to her preternatural senses and she can’t really see anything but the black spot on her vision. She’d felt the sensation of the two lifting off the ground and taking flight, but apparently Yuri had achieved a dangerous altitude very quickly and she has no choice but to trust him and to calm her struggle.”
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Falon is an elusive character. You think you know her, and then she does something completely off the wall. She got it from her daddy. That man is the definition of a shady character and after a call from her father, Falon finds herself in some very dangerous encounters.
Young Man (Old Man Young and the Con Man’s Daughter Limited Series): “It was her father and he hung up before she could answer. The man was very skeptical of phones of any kind and she rarely ever talked to him for more than a few minutes at a time unless she met him in person. He spent most of his time in Tennessee and Falon always met him at the same place. ”
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After raising a man from the dead, Dr. Worthington does what any man would do, he goes to tell his superiors at the Consortium of Human History about it. It’s what one does, of course.
Consortium Zone: South (Made in America Series 2 Limited Series): “The facility is a huge four story mansion with extensive balconies on each floor and a large rooftop garden. It seems to be located in the middle of a jungle, but the landscaping around the house is neat and suburban in aesthetic, like it had somehow been transported to the middle of a rainforest.”
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The encounters continue as we rewind to the early days of Kevin and Ivan’s friendship. VIV continues the tale and reveals more details about what you thought you knew.
Strange Encounters (PRL 2 in 1): “A small town librarian, who we will call Jill, was assisting area students with history presentations at the library where she worked. It was an annual event that the library held to showcase diversity in the New South, and local high schools chose students who prepared a presentation about someone on their family tree that provided historical context about the time and location in which they lived their lives.”
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The Ascendant seem to play an essential, if not very convoluted, role in the universe. They will be there at the relative end, and they were there at the relative beginning. What are they up to in the relative present? It’s time to go back to the future of Par-Cell’s hand selected 77.
Universal Family Tree: “The 140 monitor Earth from Pluto because the Quinspace beings of Earth mostly know the Ascendant as hostile enemies. This is thanks mostly to the being known as Anansi who had done battle with the early Ascendant and survived to modern day because his essence was many beings compressed into his body. Anansi warned all Quinspace beings who would listen about the horned creatures from the stiff world who were working to up end the natural laws of the universe and would surely cause irreparable damage if left unchecked”
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It’s the PRL Serials Volume V! The V is for very good.
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PRL Serials 