It seemed like little time had passed before the large party traveling with the Vodun to the home of Une arrived in the Une-verse. They were on one of the shifting planes of the Disc of Lêgba that Xêvioso had modified to form an impenetrable cube around Agê, Xêvioso, and Fâ’s forces and it moved through the nothingness outside of everything with the aid of Xêvioso who was well versed in the arcana it required to accomplish the gargantuan feat.
The Vodun had shared their information about the state of the Une-Verse with everyone that accompanied them, and they had all used a mindlink facilitated by Agê that allowed them to strategize against their foe. They entered a spacetime that was draped in impossibly long mycelium, grown over for so long that everything, except the stars, was wrapped in tendrils. As the large cube moved through the Une-Verse, the forces from the Fonlands watched in awe as they passed through twilit space with masses of furry tendril hanging across impossible distances.
“This is unbelievable,” Pultine says to Alia and Maria, the Hyperion and the Transverse respectively, as they stand on the shifting plane watching the scenery through the Vodun’s protection. “We burned Une out of Talj, but she hadn’t conquered the entirety of that existence the way she permeates this one.”
“It feels really big,” Alia says with her eyes wide and chin up. “All of that is Une,” she says with a shiver.
“Mulweri and I need to scout this existence,” Maria says. She is not looking out at the view. “It’s the only way that we will discover Une’s weak points, or the quickest way.”
“You can’t even look at it, Wazad, how are you going to scout it?” Pultine asks Maria and the two stare tensely at one another. “This is not the time for meekness, you are Wazad the Transverse and you are here to do one thing and to do it very well. Look at the enemy, Wazad! See it and size it up for the horror that it is. A being of ravenous hunger that spans the entirety of a realm. Look at it.”
Maria is angry, but she does as Pultine says. She hadn’t looked since they arrived, and when she lays eyes on it, she seems to tremble and tears drop slowly from her eyes.
“It is horror beyond our comprehension that we face,” Pultine continues and Alia listens carefully even though she is talking to Maria. “But you will see it for what it is, that is what you trained for right?” Maria nods. “Do not allow your fear to diminish your power. If we are to die here, then that will happen, but I will not leave this existence unless this thing is coming with me. We are all here with that goal.”
Maria nods again and Pultine watches as she pushes her way through the crowds of Fonlanders and beings from other realms to find the Vodun Agê, Xêvioso, and Fâ.
“You hyped her up,” Alia says to Pultine and they both watch Maria in the distance. “What is she doing?”
“I imagine that she is ready to go out and scout.”
“Is this all happening really fast to you?” Alia asks. “I feel like we were just in Talj and now we’re going to face Une. I’m ready for this to start though, it’s the waiting that kills me.”
Pultine agrees and then Tracia catches her attention from a distance. She is with Maxx among a group of beings from another universe, humanoid creatures with rabbit ears, and she motions for Pultine to come to her. Just as Pultine and Alia begin to walk in Tracia’s direction, the cube that conveys them safely through the Une-verse begins to jerk violently and everyone inside is tossed around in the commotion. The tendrils of Une had been slowly wrapping the cube since they appeared in the universe and finally, it begins to spin the cube in tendrils to wrap it up completely. In the commotion, Xêvioso launches an attack at the tendrils that frees the cube, but sends it careening into a nearby mass of tendrils that drape what had been a planet. The collision causes the cube to shatter in an explosion of lights, lightning, and arcana, and the forces of the Vodun are scattered across the Une-verse in the commotion.
Pultine does not close her eyes when the cube shatters. She reaches for Alia’s hand and grabs it tightly as the gravity around them begins to swirl and the magnificent yellow-gold magic of Xêvioso explodes in sparks all around them. She is trying to reach Tracia who she spots at a distance in the commotion of bodies jumbling and arcana sparking, but there is an explosion of golden yellow energy near her and when the light subsides, she is still holding Alia’s hand tightly.
“Where are we?” Alia asks and the two stare at one another with panic as they float in unfamiliar space. The large, thick tendrils loom all around them and there is no other life around them. Alia has engaged her Hyperion form, when the light inside of her glows brightly and her body is a form of light, to survive the void, though this is Alia’s instinct. The void of the space of the Une-verse is not exactly a void anymore. It is a breathable atmosphere created by the plants that grow within the tangled strands that make up the tendrils, which is good news for the members of the Vodun’s forces who require oxygen.
“We were all scattered,” Pultine says, “all around this realm. It’s disorienting, I can’t quite use my abilities to locate anyone mentally.”
“Yeah, I feel dizzy,” Alia says. “I need to rest on something and get my bearings.”
They find a floating rock to sit, observing their surroundings carefully as they move through space.
“I can’t believe that this is how it’s going,” Alia says. “I didn’t know what to expect, of course, but I didn’t anticipate this. She knows we’re here? She must have split us up on purpose.”
“I think what happened to the cube was an accident, I don’t think those tendrils knew what they were grabbing, they probably just detected us because of the size. This is a set back we have to navigate around to launch our attack. The smart thing to do is to find the Vodun, and my connection to Agê is stronger than yours to Xêvioso, so we will look for her.”
“How is your mind? Do you feel her?” Alia asks Pultine gently. She can tell by the way Pultine talks that she is very nervous and unprepared for this reality where she can’t easily communicate with the Vodun.
Pultine can’t even feel Tracia, her sister and closest confidant. Pultine doesn’t feel like herself at all since the strange jump after the crash and she wonders if she can bring the light to her hands in the way that she is used to. She lifts a hand and she attempts to make it ignite with her light, but there is only a flicker and then nothing. She looks at Alia who loses her Hyperion form at that moment and looks at Pultine with concern.
“Did you just lose yours too?” Pultine asks. Her hard exterior has shattered completely and she looks lost with her hand still up and grasping for the powers that she is used to.
“No, I just powered down,” Alia says gently and she puts an arm over Alia’s shoulder and hugs her close. “It’s ok.”
Pultine has never experienced this sensation in all of her long existence. She can feel her Third Heart generating Divine Essence, but for whatever reason, it is only enough to keep her alive, not the bountiful amount that fueled her arcane feats. She is weak, maybe, tired. And she doesn’t know if her Third Heart will ever produce Divine Essence at the level that she is used to. She explains this to Alia through tears.
“You’ve taught me a lot about healing,” Alia says, hugging Pultine close as they slowly float on the small asteroid through the Une-verse. “And it seems that we have a lot of time for me to practice. Let me do what I can.”
Alia changes to her Hyperion form with an arm wrapped around Pultine. The large black wings at Pultine’s back sag, she doesn’t have the ability to retract them in her current state. Alia uses her free hand to enact healing formations that form as patterns in space around her hand, and she chants incantations that cause her light form to bleed into Pultine’s body where their bodies connect. They float this way for a long while, before they receive a mental message that seems to emanate from a specific point.
“If you can hear and comprehend this message, you are in the party of the Vodun. Follow this message to the source to rendezvous with your teammates.”
“That’s a relief,” Alia says and smiles at Pultine who has regained much of her strength, though she is not fully healed. “Do you think we can trust it?”
“I recognize the voice,” Pultine smiles. “The Queen Rowen of Oin, she was helping Maxx before I went to Bludon. I think that we can trust it.”
Alia responds to the mental beacon, but doesn’t receive a response.
“It’s not a real mind,” Alia says with confusion, “not one I can connect to.”
“Maybe the Queen is only broadcasting, not receiving replies,” Pultine offers. She wants to feel what Alia feels when she tries to connect to the source of the message, but her mental abilities have not been fully restored. “Can we follow it?”
Alia nods and extends a hand in front of her, expelling light energy with significant force to push her and Pultine, and the asteroid where they sit, back in the direction of the source of the message. They move slowly, navigating the tendrils that crowd space around them, and eventually they arrive at the source of the mental beacon. They are both shocked from their seated position, then fly toward a large planet that is not draped in tendrils. They land on the rocky surface and are greeted enthusiastically by the Queen Rowen in a suit to match Alia and Pultine’s battle armor that resembles a spacesuit but in the color of the Vodun to the which they are aligned.
“Oh, thank the Center,” the Queen Rowen says and she watches Pultine and Alia descend on the rocky surface where there is a glowing yellow light that the Queen has tried to obscure. “I ran into Maxx after the cube exploded, but he’s stuck like a statue and I can’t stop the glow of his powers. I’m glad that I found him first, the beacon of light that he cast into space is liable to get us discovered by Une, even if it doesn’t seem she can detect things our size at the moment. He is stashed amidst the rocks while I try to restore him. I am having success but it is slow.”
Pultine and Alia follow the Queen Rowen through the rocky terrain to what appears to be caves where Maxx is glowing and he is as still as a statue with the Blight Maker secured to his shell.
“I’m not sure what’s happening to him,but maybe you can help?” the Queen Rowen says, subsuming panic at everything that has transpired. “I sense the Vodun Fâ nearby. Once we get Maxx moving, we should head her way.”
Pultine, Alia and the Queen Rowen all stare at Maxx in the purple-tinted yellow glow of his power.
PRL Serials 