[Sticks]

Episode I –Re-emergence

On an unknown alien world
Location – Unknown
Time – Unknown



Date – Unknown

Jenny Green regained consciousness and shook her head to try and shake of the feeling of disorientation from the blast that the creature known as the Magnus Timor had thrown at her, as they battled him to try and stop his plan to destroy both Earth and the Mystical Realms by dragging the Mystical Realms through a worm hole to crash into the Earth
.
“Jenny, are you ok” Command Mark Johnston asked her.
Jenny felt his loving arms around her, she was obviously lying in them as he held her. She thought it was such a noble, but stupid thing to do, to try and shove her out of the way of the energy bolt from the Magnus Timor, which was why she loved him.
“Jenny, are you ok” Mark repeated and kissed her forehead
“Yes love” Jenny groggily answered, and then she opened her eyes and saw the strange alien landscape.

Up in the sky was a red sun, and the sky was a crimson shade. It was nothing like a sunset or sunrise Jenny had ever seen, as the sun was high up and not at the horizon.

They were on some kind of plateau and in the distance they could see strange plants and what seemed to be flying creatures. Behind them were more of these strange towing plants.

Jenny stood up assisted by Mark.

“Mark, where are we” Jenny asked and hugged Mark.

Mark put his arms around Jenny, “I don’t know Jenny” he replied, “I only came round a few minutes ago myself”

Just then, in the distance they could hear someone approaching through the plants. Mark and Jenny stood to face them. Jenny still had her short bow and quiver, so strung up an arrow.

They listened carefully, it sounded like two individuals.

Suddenly Jenny felt the short bow ripped from her hands, the arrow with it by some unknown force.

Then Jenny and Mark came face to face with someone who was supposed to be dead. A certain man in his twenties, in jeans and trainers nothing else.

It was the former lab technician from the Facility, the UK base of the Inter Dimensional Entity Control organisation, now reduced to rubble by a lorry bomb on the orders of the Magnus Timor cult. Timothy Zachary had been the lab technician that had turned traitor and had used doppelganger assassins to attack Jenny outside her former coffee shop in the north east of England, as a ruse to get another one into the Facility.

“Timothy Zachary” Mark said in disbelief

“At your service Commander” Timothy replied with a smirk, and then he turned to Jenny, “A little over dressed are Miss Green, I hardly recognised you with your clothes on” he sneered, “Please could you remove all your clothes, I much prefer the Amazon look”
“In your dreams” Jenny retorted
“I thought you were dead” Mark replied and approached him.

Timothy pulled out a small derringer and waved it at the commander and then Jenny, “I forgot all about this at the Facility when I had the other gun” Then Timothy grinned and added, “Well as you can see commander, in spite of your best efforts, I’m not dead after all. I am very much alive and well and living here on what, if I remember our cataloguing convention, should be called Eye-Dee Double-you Oh, two”

Then the other person emerged from the alien forest. She was what looked like a woman in either her forties or fifties, and she had very cold dark eyes and was wearing black dress that clung to her figure.

“Who are these people?” the women in black asked.

Timothy walked to her side, still keeping the gun trained on Jenny and Mark, “They are old friends of mine from Earth” he said sarcastically, then he spoke to Jenny and Mark, “Commander, Miss Green, allow me to introduce my new partner in crime as it were” then he paused

Timothy then grinned, “The Spirit of Lust”.

Mark shook his head in disbelief, “You can’t be” he insisted, “Mr Andrews” he began

“SILENCE” The Spirit of Lust screeched in a voice that sounded like thunder, “I do not want to hear the name of that mortal that left me to die when he collapsed the World of War Craft on me”

Mark, then had a sudden realisation, “You did this” he said to Timothy accusingly, “You saved her from the fate she deserved”

Timothy just grinned, “Guilty as charged Commander”
“How and why” Mark asked
Timothy then explained smugly “When we had detected an upsurge in IDE activity in Cyber Space, one of the tasks Mr Blue asked me to do was to monitor which entities were there, and find a way to capture them. It worked out to be harder than we first thought, and when I detected that Mr Andrews had initiated the shutdown from inside, the capture device and software had yet to be tested”

“So you tested it on this” Mark continued, then he added, “Don’t you realise she is responsible for a civil war that cost the deaths of hundreds or…”

Timothy walked up to him waving the derringer in his face interrupted Mark. “Mr Blue knew all about her record, and if he was happy that I saved her, why should I be bothered. I mean I was able to pull an IDE out of a section of Cyberspace as it was being shut down, how cool was that?” then Timothy walked back to be beside the Spirit of Lust, who gave a contemptuous glance at the commander.

Timothy went on “Anyway, Mr Blue had a change of mind, thanks to Set, it seems the Spirit of Lust and Set have issues with each other and as she was in our virtual reality system, Mr Blue ordered her deletion after we got what we could get from her, but as with the doppelganger we had captured back then, I thought that was such a waste especially because of a personality clash between two IDE’s, so I transferred her to a specially modified palm pilot I had. I mean she is a major spirit of vice, capable of throwing fire balls at will”

At this, the Spirit of Lust held her arms out and two fire balls formed over her hands, instinctively Mark got between the major spirit and Jenny to try and protect her.

Timothy looked at the Spirit of Lust and shook his head and tut tutted. Jenny could have sworn she saw the Spirit of Lust glower at Timothy, but obediently the fireballs dissipated harmlessly

“And I am grateful to Mr Zachary for rescuing” The Sprit of Lust told Jenny and Mark, then with a barbed comment, “Even if he did keep me in that infernal device”
“Fair’s Fair Lusty babe” Timothy replied with a reckless air of disrespect, “I did manage to figure out how to get you out once we got here”

Jenny felt out of place, and eyed this woman with the cold dark eyes, “Excuse me, but who is the Spirit of Lust”

Before Timothy could answer, Mark put his right arm around Jenny’s shoulder, “She is the elder sister of the former Spirit of True Love”
“You mean the major spirit of virtue who was the birth mother of Fidelity and Caer?” Jenny asked

“Oh yes child” interrupted the Spirit of Lust, “My nieces who decided to renounce their birthright of being minor spirits virtue and become frail mortal humans. Mr Zachary told me what had happened to those two and that worked out better than I planned as they will grow old and die like you mortals all do, so when I get back I will not have to waste my time on those wretches.”

“But they are happy being ordinary humans like us” Jenny insisted, and then added “And I am not a child”

The Spirit of Lust looked contemptuously at Jenny, “My Zachary has told me many things, and even how his former leader Mr Blue was taken over by that jumped up Spirit of Malice”

This time Timothy interrupted, “Although I have to point out, Mr Blue was aware of Set and they actually got on quite well, it was a kind of symbiotic relationship of sorts and they did share quite a number of the same ideals”

“The Spirit of Lust Jenny” Mark continued insistently, “Had her sister and her brother the Guardian of Mortal Struggle murdered”

Jenny looked horrified at this female spirit, she had heard of minor spirits of vice, but had never met one, she had met minor spirits of virtue, and indeed unknowingly worked with one, Fidelity, those brief few months at the coffee shop. But she had never come face to face with a major spirit, of virtue or vice, unless you countered the Magnus Timor as a “jumped up spirit of fear”, as the late Dobian the drow had referred to him as.

Jenny remembered her encounter with Fidelity, her first minor spirit of virtue, which was when her former boss sent her out to buy underwear for her, as all she had turned up in that day was a medieval style smock and nothing else. She even chipped in for some socks and cheap trainers herself.

Jenny’s thought train was interrupted.

“My brother sold out” The Spirit of Lust screeched,” he had to die. He was the Spirit of War, a major spirit of vice and yet he chose to try and be a Spirit of Virtue. He refused to go along with my plans”

“But he was your own brother?” Jenny asked with incredulity

At this the Spirit of Lust fixed her gaze upon Jenny, “I believe Mr Zachary wanted you to remove your clothing to satisfy his lust of the flesh” and then she started pointing at Jenny.

Immediately Jenny was completely naked, and her arms forced down by her side so she could not use her hands to cover her self up. Mark was also thrown to the ground and pinned down, to keep him from helping her.

“You may take her now Mr Zachary” the Spirit of Lust announced

Timothy turned round to face the Spirit of Lust, “That is some party trick Lusty babe” Timothy commented, then added, “And that is how I so want to see women such as her I admit, but we don’t have time for this, well not here anyway, and given the terrain we have to go through, I will be curbing my lusts for the moment.” Then to Jenny, with what seemed uncharacteristic gallantry of this perverted lab technician, he pleaded with the Spirit of Lust in a mock pleading way “Lusty Babe please, pretty please, give her back her clothes and also that cute little bow and arrow set”

Then Timothy added, “And release the commander as well”

“Oh very well” The Spirit of Lust replied with an air of irritation, and instantly Jenny‘s cloths re appeared on the ground in front of her, along with her short bow and arrows and Mark felt the force holding to the ground dissipate.

Whilst Jenny grabbed her clothes and got dressed again, Mark picked himself up and asked Timothy, “What do you mean the terrain we have to go through?”

“Through these stinger fans” Timothy replied pointing to the tall plant like structures they had emerged from, “I know I’m not wearing a shirt, but I covered myself with gulphog pheromones, otherwise, well you would not want to know”

Mark and Jenny looked at the tall plant like structures

“But they look like some kind of tree” Jenny remarked
“Actually they are animals” Timothy explained, “You see this world must also have had some formation from a collective unconscious”
“But I don’t recognise this from any mythology”
“It seems to be based on one of my favourite Channel four National Geographic series” Timothy continued, “In that show they got experts to create two alien world and they called them Aurelia and Blue Moon. This appears to be based on Aurelia”
“So this is a world out of your imagination?” Mark sneered
“I suppose you could say that, but it was created by those guys on the TV show” Timothy replied, “getting back to these things, you don’t have clothing, or at least the blood of their predator they can get a bit curious at extra nutrition passing by”

“But I could clear a path through these infernal things” The Spirit of Lust replied
“And you tried that, remember what happened” Timothy replied in a rebuking tone

This was a major spirit of vice, Jenny observed, what did this vile jumped up lab technician who had had her violated by a doppelganger assassin have over her?

Jenny finally got completely dressed, put the arrow in her quiver and picked up her bow. With the Spirit of Lust around, there was no point in trying to put an arrow into Timothy, as much as she would like to, for what he had done to her all those months ago.

“We need to get out of here” Timothy told everyone, “You may not like this, but all four of us are going to have to work together if any of you hope to see the Earth or IDW01”
“The Mystical Realms” interrupted the Spirit of Lust
“Sorry Lusty babe, I mean the Mystical Realms” Timothy replied.

“If they are still there?” Jenny whispered
“What do you mean still there?” The Spirit of Lust replied
“What she means, Spirit of Lust” Mark said insistently, is we were sent here by the Magnus Timor, he was trying to bring your world into our universe to smash it into the Earth. For all we know, he may have succeeded”

“But our spell to keep him eternal sleep?” the Spirit of Lust replied with incredulity
“Was broken” Mark responded

“Well we can’t stay out here” Timothy interrupted, “We need to get back to our cave where it’s safe”
“What do you mean safe?” Mark asked
“Commander, this planet is tidally locked, and periodically that star sends out pulses of gamma rays or something, and unless you are a stinger fan you are fried if you are caught out in the open.
“Very touching of you to care about our welfare” Mark sneered.
“Sorry Commander, I know that to say we have history is an understatement, but believe me, we need to be on the same side this time if, assuming this Magnus Timor hasn’t destroyed the Earth, we are going to get out of this”
“How can we ever trust you again after what you did to me” Jenny asked angrily
Timothy shook his head and tut tutted, “Like I told you Miss Green, it was nothing personal” Timothy replied,
“I know” Jenny barked back, “I just happened to be convenient for your sick and twisted plans”
This time Timothy was more assertive, “Jenny, we don’t have time for this, we need to get back to that cave while we still can”

“Come on Jenny” Mark told Jenny and took her by the hand, “We better go with them.”
“Are you two love birds?” Timothy asked in a childish voice
“That’s none of your business” Mark snapped back
“Sorry Commander” Timothy apologised, “But all those months back, I thought you made such a cute couple, even though she is more my age and you are ten years older than her”

Then with Timothy leading the way and The Spirit of Lust following behind, they started their journey through the Stinger fans.

+ + + +

Just outside Dublin
Republic of Ireland



(Eighteen years before the defeat of the Magnus Timor)

Felicity wiped the tear from her eyes and again looked at the letter from the specialist again. It was unequivocal, and she felt that there was only one way out, even if The Roman Catholic Church might consider it a mortal sin.

She looked up at the old meat hook in the kitchen ceiling where she would tie the rope to, just after her beloved husband Shaun had left to go into Dublin to speak to the solicitor about the farm in County Claire he was inheriting from his grandfather. Felicity gazed for a few seconds at the noose she had tied, it did not have the regulation thirteen turns, but it would suffice.

Felicity put her suicide note on the kitchen table along with the letter from the specialist and her wedding ring, pulled up a chair, that she knew would be easy to kick way once she had put her head in the noose. Slowly Felicity stood on the chair and fixed the noose to the meat hook, so it would support her weight. Then weeping as she did so placed the noose over her head and then as she stood there, slid the knot down to her neck. The length of the rope was such that she was just able to breath without standing on her toes.

“Lord, I’m sorry” she cried in despair, “But I love Shaun so much and he deserves someone better who can have his babies”. Felicity looked at the ring, and the two pieces of paper on the table, put one foot on the back of the chair to start tipping it, so it would fall and leave her hanging by her neck until dead, so she could leave this world.

Slowly two feet of the chair lifted off of the floor, then it balanced on the two chair legs at the chair’s back. For a moment Felicity hesitated, but this was short lived hesitation as the chair legs on the ground suddenly slid away, causing the chair to fall away as planned. Felicity was now hanging by her neck choking and asphyxiating as the noose did its job. Soon it would be over

“FELICITY” Screeched a male voice.

It was Shaun her husband of a year and two months. He had just arrived back home unexpectedly in time to see the chair his wife was standing on fall over.

“FELICITY” He shouted and with no time to loose, he ran up to his where his wife was hanging, picked the chair up and repositioned it and made sure Felicity was standing on it, holding it to prevent his wife kicking it over again and jumped up onto the chair and pulled the noose open, and then off of Felicity’s head.

“Please Shaun” Felicity pleaded, “Can’t you go away for half an hour. I’m doing this for you, it’s the only way”
“No way” Shaun insisted, and with his Stanley knife cut the rope just above the knot of the noose so she could not put her head in it again, and then held his weeping wife.
The chair started to creak so Shaun told his wife, “I don’t think this chair will support both of us” and jumped off of it and then grabbed his wife’s right hand to help her down.

As soon as Felicity was on the ground, he pulled the knot of the noose down and through, so it was now just a longish piece of rope and placed it in the kitchen bin.

“What did you think you were doing love” Shaun asked his wife, “Did I do anything wrong?” He asked
“No Shaun, I love you so much, but I can’t give you the children you wanted, I failed you” Felicity sobbed, “I know they would never grant you a divorce, so even though it would be a mortal sin, I figured…”

Shaun then completed what his wife was about to say, “If you killed yourself I would be free to marry someone who can have babies”

Felicity just nodded, “You deserve better” she whispered then added, “If I had known, I would never have married you, because I love you. Please, let me die, let me do this one act of love for you so you can find someone else who can have the children you want”

Shaun just gave his wife a big hug, “Don’t be so silly, I love you too and if I had known you were unable to carry a baby to term before I asked you to marry me, I still would have asked you to marry me because I love you Felicity”
“But you, you want children so much?” she protested
“Love” Shaun just replied, “I have something to show you”. Shaun then returned to the briefcase he had just dropped and pulled out a piece of paper, “Felicity, just because you can’t give birth, does not mean we can’t have children. You were in such a state last night about that letter from the specialist that I forgot clean about this”

Shaun then showed his wife the letter he had taken from his briefcase

“Our application to be foster parents has been acknowledged, and after a routine inspection, which I’m sure we will pass, we will get to look after a child, and that is sometimes the route to adopting a child of our own”

Felicity looked at the form, and then hugged her husband; “I’m so sorry Shaun” was all she could get out.

“Look, I don’t mind just being a foster parent love, but if we do this, we may get to adopt any child they place with us. Now dry your eyes and put your wedding ring back on, and we will forget all about this sillyness, just as soon as I get the rest of the rope down from that hook” Shaun told his wife, “In fact, I think it’s about time I got rid of that hook altogether”

“I’m so sorry Shaun, if you’re sure you still want me, I promise I won’t do it again” Felicity insisted.
“Of course I still want you” Shaun replied “I want you more than anyone else in the world, and I know you won’t try this again, but after this I just don’t want to see that hook, it will remind me of what could have been, if it were not for that strange lady at the end of the road.

“What strange lady” Felicity asked, “Is she still there? Did she see me putting up the…”
“No love” Shaun interrupted, “She just stepped out in the middle of the road, and when I braked the car, she came over and told me by name that if I did not hurry back to you there and then, then my destiny would take a sorry turn as it was not supposed to be your time”

“And?” Felicity asked shaking her head and rubbing her neck

“Well love, I briefly looked at my watch thinking about whether I would have time to make it to the solicitors if I did, and when I looked back, the lady had gone, very peculiar, so I thought I better do as she said. Looks like you had a guardian angel there”

Felicity just nodded and placed her wedding ring back on her finger.

Shaun then picked up the suicide note, crumpled it up and put it into the bin, and then held his wife, whispering how much he loved her and how she would make a great foster mother. It was only then that he noticed that he was crying too.

Neither Felicity nor Shaun noticed the two hooded figures outside the window looking in.

-

“I thought I was supposed to be escorting her from her body” said the male hooded figure
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I need them both alive. You will get your chance in the end, you always do” said the female hooded figure.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not disappointed;” The male figure replied then added “In fact I like it when they are saved at the last moment sometimes, like this. But as you say, I will one day have to collect her, in that you’re right as ever, but don’t let the new Lord Low Troll catch you interfering like this; you know what he is like on such things, now he has won the contract for the Manjura trolls to enforce the law back home”

The female hooded figure turned to the male hooded figure, “That troll is the least of my trouble’s I suspect, anyway his heavies are rather busy carting off the Spirit of Despair who was here just before you arrived. I pleaded with him not to do what he did to this poor woman, but, you know what spirits of vice are like, so I ratted on him”
“But why these mortals?” the male hooded figure asked
The female hooded figure sighed and then explained, “My friend I grew up with is expecting, and it looks like twins I believe, by a mortal father at that, and I noticed her sister was not too happy. I know the Lord Low Troll is never happy with me and my sister’s work, but we were there before he was even head of the Manjura, let alone the Lord Low Troll and these two mortals, if they are allowed to live will be crucial to my friend’s children. I just wish I could say more, but that would be unprofessional of me, if even if the mists of time were a bit clearer on detail”

The male figure just nodded, “I guess you’re right” he said, “This was only an appointment in pencil, as there was some talk that she would chicken out at the last minute”
“I had heard that too” the female replied, “But I could not take that risk, especially with The Spirit of Despair butting in like he did, and it looks like I was right, she was definitely going through with it.”

“You did a good job there” The male figure agreed, “I like working with you lot, especially you elder sister when she helps out in busy times, even though it is a wretched job we have to do”
“Oh!” added the female figure, “There is something important I have to tell you”
“When we get back to our world” the male figure replied, “I believe we are overstaying our allotted time hear”
With that the two hooded figures turned round and left through a blue wormhole that the male hooded figure had just created.

+ + + +

Limerick Railway Station


The present day

Paddy McPherson watched from the foyer of Limerick Colbert Railway Station the two seventeen year old twin girls, in matching tan jackets and light blue slacks, as they said good bye to their mother and brother before they went onto the platform to catch their train. The only way they could be told apart was that one was wearing a green scarf and the other a pink one.

Paddy was using his standard invisibility spell so not even the two girls who he was looking out for could see him. They would have a Leprechaun G2 officer watching out for them whether they liked it or not, even if the immediate emergency following the bombing of the Facility in London had been down graded.

Paddy moved off to follow them, when a man in a green parka jacket seemed to deliberately kneel down in front of him.

Paddy went to walk around him, when the man reached out and grabbed him, holding him firm

“Oh no you don’t you little eye-dee-ee” the man told him in a Belfast accent
“What!” exclaimed the leprechaun
“Handy things, amulets of detection” the man said smugly, then produced a small dagger. “I have a little message from my associate’s late boss” he continued and then for clarification, “I understand his name was Mr Blue, if that rings any bells”

Paddy eyed the dagger with alarm and was also shocked by the mention of the name of the former director of The Facility, especially the one responsible for running the policy of “Incarcerate, Interrogate and exterminate” anyone who had had any connection, no matter how tenuous to the Mystical Realms. Paddy tried to teleport out, but he was being blocked

“Oh I see we can’t teleport away now” the man told him, “how unfortunate” added, before plunging the knife into the leprechaun’s chest and twisting it.

Instantly the leprechaun turned to ash, which was carried away on the breeze.

The Belfast man stood up put his knife away and pulled out a cell phone and found the quick number dial as he started to follow the teenagers onto the train. “The two humans are leaving to go back to their farm in Shannon if you want to do anything with them.” He told the person on the phone “I’ve dealt with the IDE who was sent to guard the two half breed IDE’s; I’m meeting my associate from London on the train as arranged. I take it we just need the one who was there on IDW01, as you call it, you know, the one that was placed under that drow infiltrator”

The person on the phone then asked about the other

“Oh” The Belfast man responded, “She was left here as a baby, so she won’t have anything useful, but if you want we could take her as well and use her as leverage on the other, but I would have to get some more people in to help, as I was only expecting to take one of them.”

The response from the guy on the phone indicated they were not amenable to bringing more people in on the operation

The Belfast man listened then suggested “We could have the other one sanctioned, if you want”

More response from the man on the phone

“OK we will just take the one who was there and leave the other, but I warn you the other one will kick up a stink with the Garda”

More questioning from the person on the phone

“It’s not a problem sir” The Belfast man replied, “We are experts at going to ground, since that was what we had to do from time to time when on active operations south of the border, before the British Government sold us down the river with the Good Friday agreement” the Belfast man replied. The Belfast man then put his phone away as he went onto the platform to catch the train.

+ + + +

London – Over Looking the River Thames

It was about the middle of the afternoon when the Spirit of Death materialised invisibly in the penthouse room of a London city block. A man in his fifties in a sharp black business suit was looking out at the river, and the London Eye.

The Spirit of Death was one of the few entities that were allowed to operate in the land of the mortals. He was neither a spirit of vice nor virtue, but he too had been given form out of the human collective unconsciousness that had formed the world of the Mystical Realms, the collective unconsciousness had created them to fulfil certain tasks. It was his task to cut a being’s silver cord of life and accompany mortals from their bodies at the appropriate time. He had been given this man as his next assignment, which seemed odd, as he was certain he was not due to pass over for a few years yet, but it was in the duty book, and that book was never wrong.

“What kept you?” The man uttered and then turned round to look at the Spirit of Death right in the face, still holding his glass of double bourbon
“You should not be able to see me” The Spirit of Death replied with some alarm in his voice

“It’s amazing what you can find on E-Bay these days” the man replied as he held up a slate talisman, “I believe the gnome who sold it got a really good price from me for this” the man then laughed and added, “Gnomes can be such mercenaries at times, just like us humans”

“A talisman of spirit detection” The Spirit of Death Spat back, “Humans are not permitted to have these devices”
“That’s just too bad” The man replied, “When I was a child, and I saw both my parents murdered by bandits, at an archaeological dig in Columbia, who believed in taking what ever they could, I learned a valuable lesson that day”

“Sir, if you are angry with me that I had to escort your parents from you as a boy” The Spirit of Death began, “I’m sorry, that was my job, and I had no choice”

“I realise that Death” the man responded, “It was those Columbian bandits who were responsible, not you, and believe me, if I could ever trace them, you would be collecting their sorry little souls if you have not done so already”

“But I’m sorry sir” The Spirit of Death replied, “It is your time”
“So Death, what do I, a healthy fifty two year old who works out regularly, die of?” the man asked, then he pointed to his glass, “This is my first today and I never go over my allotted weekly units, so it can hardly be alcohol related”
“I do not know sir, maybe an undiagnosed heart condition or a brain aneurism, I was not told, just that it is in the duty book for today”

“Well” Smirked the man, “For your information, it is not my time, far from it”
“But I have my order sheet, I have your name on the duty list” the Spirit of Death insisted waving a sheet of parchment with names etched on in gold leaf.

The man walked away from his window to his desk, while the Spirit of Death stood there perplexed.
“It’s amazing who you can bribe these days, Death”
“I do not understand, you bribed someone to bring forward my appointment with you? I hardly pegged you for being the suicidal type” the Spirit of Death replied with puzzlement
“No Death” the man replied, “I bribed someone to have you sent here, ahead of my time, because that way, according to your own rules, I can do this”

The man hit at a switch on his desk and instantly the Spirit of Death found himself surrounded by some cage constructed out of light beams.
“A cage of holding!” The Spirit of Death exclaimed, “What trickery is this”
“A simple spell from the drow. Not that they know it’s missing, but it holds you if you were to come for any being too early, something about cosmic fairness and all that”
“How”, screeched the Spirit of Death,”What about my duties” he asked in panic
“Oh don’t worry about that” The man replied, “My new associate will be taking over from you for the time being, and I believe you know her”

The Spirit of Death looked out from his cage, mystified as the man pressed a button on his intercom to his secretary. “Send her in”

In walked what appeared to be a young woman in her mid teens, with jet black hair, looking very much like a Goth
“Hello daddy” she said in a spiteful manner,
“Celeste?” The Spirit of Death said in astonishment
“You’re the one who told me and my long departed mother, the Spirit of Destiny that I would never amount to anything, and now I’m taking over your job, Old Man”

“Celeste my daughter” The Spirit of Death pleaded, don’t do this, this man is evil
“And people don’t think we are already because we take their wretched little lives from them?” Celeste snapped back
“We are not evil” The Spirit of Death insisted, “We just have an unpleasant but vital job to perform”
“And don’t worry daddy dear, I’m going to do it now, my way” Celeste sneered

“Welcome to the firm Celeste” The man said to her, and then took her hand to kiss it. Celeste let him do so and smiled cruelly at her father

Then the man picked up another pendant, looking like an empty old fashioned cotton reel from his desk and walked over to the cage.

“I believe you have something of mine” the man told the Spirit of Death, and then pronounced an incantation that sounded like a mixture of ancient elf and ancient drow.

Suddenly a glowing thread appeared wrapped around the cotton reel like pendant. “I believe you were going to cut this a tad too soon” the man told the Spirit of Death
“So is this what it’s about” the Spirit of Death asked, “You a mere mortal human want to be immortal”

The man mused for a bit, “That’s only the one part of it Death” he then said, and then he spoke another incantation, and the Spirit of Death found himself in a dark void, still trapped in his cage of holding

The man in the business suit put his glass down on the desk and turned to Celeste, “Can I get you anything?” he asked her
“Snakebite” Celeste replied

The man looked at his drinks cabinet, “Sorry my dear” he told her, “I will have to take you down the local pub for one of those”
“That’s ok” Celeste Smirked, “Have you got any Red Bull”
“I have vodka” The man replied and took out a clear bottle of Smirnoff
Celeste smiled, “Close enough” she told her new boss and then took the drink the man had poured.

“Now if you don’t mind Celeste, I have another call to make” The man told her
“That’s ok, I have to get on as well” Celeste told him, “As they say in your good book I have to be about my daddy’s business” with that she vanished into thin air.

The man then picked up a cell phone and tapped in a number. After the phone was answered he told the person on the other end of the phone, “Pick her up as soon as you can. I have arranged for the various devices to be delivered.”

+ + + +

Limerick Junction – Republic of Ireland

The two seventeen year old twin girls watched as the train pulled up into platform one.
“Here it is at last” one of them said in a Irish accent, “It’s fifteen minutes late Fid”
“I’m sure they will wait” the other teenage twin replied in a strange European type accent.

The first twin grabbed at the door handle which seemed stiff

“Allow me” came a voice behind them. It was a man in a black denim jacket with some kind of British accent. He deftly opened the door and the two teenagers entered the carriage and started to hunt for their reserved seats. Neither of them noticed the man speaking into his cell phone, nor would it have meant anything to them.

The man in the black jacket found an airline style seat in the railway carriage, next to a man in a green parka sitting by the window.
“Is this seat taken friend” he asked the man in the parker
“How am I your friend” the man in the parka replied in a Belfast accent
“We met on Facebook remember?”
“That we did” the Belfast man replied, “I’m Johnny Adair, pleased to meet you”

The man in the black jacket sat down next to Johnny, “I’m Steve Swales” then he whispered, “It’s kind of bizarre that a former UK IDEC officer and a former member of the UFF are common bedfellows”
“More like we have a common benefactor” Johnny replied, “But then we do live in interesting times”
“In the Chinese sense?” Steve asked
“Aye” nodded Johnny.
“Did the IDE give you any trouble” Steve then asked
“Not at all” Johnny answered,”He’s dusted”

Steve looked down the railway carriage at the two teenage twin girls, “So which one is which?”

* *

The twin girls sat with their back to the direction of travel. The coach was warm so they both took off their scarves. The one with the pink scarf sat by the window at the insistence of her over-protective sister.

An elderly woman came down the carriage and asked if the facing set of seats were taken, as she was only going as far as Templemore, .

“Not that I know of Miss” the twin by the window replied
“Sure help yourself” the other twin responded.

The woman was momentarily taken aback, “How come your voices are so different, yet you are absolutely identical?”
The twin by the window looked nervously at her sister, so the twin on the aisle seat decided to answer, “We were kind of separated at birth”

“Oh that must have been horrid” the old woman replied, “Was your mother unable to cope with twin girls”
“No mam” the twin in the isle seat replied, “a relative on our biological mother’s side was seen as a danger to us so I was removed and left at a police station in Dublin for my own safety, but my sister was taken in by someone who worked for that relative before she could be taken to where I had been left”

“That’s tragic to be left as a foundling” The elderly woman sighed looking at the twin sitting in the aisle seat, “So you got the better part of this tragedy” the woman then said to the twin by the window.
The twin by the window went quiet and gently shook her head, and then looked out at the passing countryside, suddenly unable to speak as she became choked up by emotions. Her sister, gave her a reassuring hug, “He’s gone now Fid, he will never hurt you again”
The twin by the window nodded and a tear rolled down her left cheek.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to upset you” the old woman said, then offered to move to another seat.
“Don’t be so silly” the twin in the isle seat replied, and then to her sister, “Are you ok Fid, it is nearly two years since you came to live with us”
The twin by the window nodded, “Sorry Caer, she sniffed, I really thought I had got over it after all this time”
“Oh I know about the nightmares Fid, mother told me” the twin referred to as Caer by her sister lovingly told her, “Did you have one last night”
Her sister just nodded and another tear rolled down her face. Some wounds never seemed to heal.
“I take it from that” The elderly woman said uncomfortably, “this person abused you”
“Yes he did” Caer said with anger in her voice and then insisted, “but not sexually”
“No not sexually” the other twin echoed shaking her head rapidly
“That’s something I suppose” The elderly woman replied.

There was an uneasy silence for a moment, and then the old woman spoke to Caer, “So your name is Caer after the Celtic myth about the daughter of Prince Ethal Anbuail of Sid Uamuin in Connacht”

Caer nodded then added, “And this is my sister Fidelity, but we call her Fid for short”

“So what happened to you?” the old woman asked Caer
“I was placed with foster parents in Dublin and because they had inherited a farm in County Claire, they then successfully applied to adopt me. They fostered and then adopted a boy when I was four, so I could have a brother. He was orphaned by a car crash when he was one and there were no other suitable relatives in his family”
Fidelity managed to recompose herself, “I came to Ireland just under two years ago” she uttered.

Caer then gave her sister another hug, “And Mummy and Daddy adopted my sister too”

“So” the elderly woman probed, “Where are you going to on your own? University?”

Caer shook her head, and then explained, “Some years back, they found who our biological father was due to some kind of DNA thing, but he was dead, killed in Afghanistan by American Friendly fire after he had saved a few of their guys, which made him kind of a war hero. Our biological uncle wanted to take me away from my parents as he insisted he was more family than they were”
“What happened?” the woman asked with a horrified tone, “Can he do that?”.
“We never found that out on the legal side of things, but our biological grandmother was classed as head of the family and said as I had settled where I was and it would be wrong to upset that, so out of a compromise either they would visit, or my parents would take me to see them in Dublin”
“But she died last month” Fidelity chipped in
“Yeah” Caer confirmed, “We were unable to go then because something came up”
“But we have to visit the family of our biological father or maybe our biological uncle will challenge our adoption” Fidelity added

“That sounds mean spirited” the woman replied
“I can’t wait until we turn eighteen, then he won’t have that hold over us” Caer told her with exasperation in her voice.

They then sat talking about the weather and other things until the train came into Templemore Station and the elderly woman got off.

* *

Steve looked up at the twin girls, “When are we going to take her” he asked Johnny
“As soon as we get into Heuston” Johnny replied, “I have friend’s there with a van to get her away sharpish”
“Are we taking the other one?” Steve asked
“No, it would mean more personnel and our mutual benefactor wants to keep the number of people in this operation to a minimum for security reasons”
“Why not just kill the other one?” Steve asked, “I know the former management at the Facility downgraded her risk factor, but she is still an IDE in my book despite some light show at Shannon Airport, and as far as I’m concerned, there’s only one good IDE, a dead one”
“I asked our mutual benefactor that one too, he said a higher than needed body count at this time would be messy, attract too much attention” Johnny answered, “Besides with what we’re being provided with she or the Garda and even G2 and their leprechauns won’t be a problem”
“Ok, but if she does get in the way of the operation”
“She won’t” Johnny insisted, “We used to do this all the time during the troubles when we took out IRA or Sinn Féin councillors”

Steve then handed Johnny a talisman, “Compliments of our mutual benefactor”
“What is it?” Johnny asked
“It’s what some of the IDE’s use when they invade our world to stay unnoticed in plain sight; it’s called a talisman of distraction. It will help us when we take the IDE half breed”

+ + + +

Residential area of the marine base at Quantico
Virginia, United States of America

It was early morning when Charlene Henshaw knocked on the front door of the house of Pete Smith and Sue-Lim Wang. Charlene had rented a jeep so she could take Sue-Lim shopping on their day off, to look at wedding dresses in down town Washington DC.

It took about five minutes for Sue-Lim to answer the door in her dressing gown. Her face betrayed the fact she had been crying.
“Sue Lim” Charlene began, and then on noticing Sue-Lim’s faced, dropped her voice and asked, “Are you ok?”
Sue-Lim just nodded, then whispered, “Pete’s still asleep in bed, he had a late night last night dealing with a crashed server” and beckoned for Charlene to come in.

Charlene stepped into the house and quietly hung her coat up in the hallway, while Sue-Lim vanished into the kitchen. Charlene looked up the stairs briefly at the closed bedroom door. It was an odd arrangement so Charlene thought, Pete and Sue-Lim were getting married, so were billeted in the same house, as like her they all worked for the Inter Dimensional Entity Control, but they were choosing at this time to sleep in separate bedrooms of the three bedroom house. It was, in Charlene’s view, some old fashioned morality thing on Sue-Lim’s part that Pete respected.

Charlene entered the kitchen where Sue-Lim was drinking a cup of tea.
“Can we not do this today?” Sue-Lim asked, with tears in her eyes.
“Are you and Pete ok?”
“Yes Charlene we’re fine” Sue-Lim replied
“Then what’s the problem?” Charlene asked, “This is the first chance to see DC since we got moved here from England”
Sue-Lim just shook her head, “It just did not seem right, not today”
“I don’t understand Sue-Lim, you were looking forward to this as well”
“It would have been Jason’s birthday” Sue-Lim replied quietly

Charlene sat down and reached out to take Sue-Lim’s hand, “He was the guy you and Pete grew up with who was killed in the attack on Karam Tag Chou ” she said softly

Tears dropped from Sue-Lim’s eyes as she just nodded, “We were also recruited to the IDEC together as well” she uttered, then added, “He would have been Pete’s best man”

Charlene sighed and shook her head, then added “And it’s Jenny’s memorial in England today as well”
“I wanted to go to that too” Sue-Lim said quietly, “but they said we were too busy with the transfer of the IDEC to Washington”
“Well at least the colonel got to go” Charlene empathised, then added, “We lost a lot of people to that Magnus Timor cult”
Sue-Lim nodded saying “Including our Jason”
“It’s probably not the same, but I lost my supervisor at CERN and Clover O’Leary to them as well” Charlene replied, then added with a touch of anger, “Even though my supervisor was working with them”

Then an uneasy silence descended on them, which was broken by Charlene, “I never asked before, but when your wormhole generator cut out up there in space, did you open it up”
“Not really” Sue-Lim replied, “There was a smell of burning and Ivan did not think it was a good idea to open it up in the progress craft, besides it was obvious it was down”
“We found a crystal of heat in ours” Charlene ventured
“But that’s a leprechaun device!” Sue-Lim exclaimed, “They are normally used by the G2 special section”
“That’s what Clover said” Charlene replied, adding, “Before she was shot dead, she said that someone had been using invisibility magic on the dragons that attacked us, but she did not say by whom”

Just then Pete came into the kitchen in his dressing down, “I thought you were going into DC today” he said blearily
“This would have been Jason’s birthday” Sue-Lim responded, “How could I”
“Very easily love” Pete insisted, “If you don’t, you give those who killed him a victory over you. He was my friend as well, and he would not have wanted you sitting here moping, now get dressed and let Charlene take you shopping”

With that, Pete walked over, lovingly put his arms around Sue-Lim and kissed her on the top of her head, “I want my future wife to have the best wedding dress we can get”, and then he turned to Charlene, “Make sure you get one that fits, I don’t want Sue-Lim starving herself to fit into one”
“Sure Pete” Charlene replied, then with a cheeky grin, “You could always save money and go Betazoid style”
This comment was met by a blank look from Sue-Lim and a red face from Pete.
“I don’t think so” was all that Pete was prepared to say

+ + + +

One hour later

At a closed session of senate committee
Washington DC
United States of America

The special sitting of senior members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs was being held in private.

Kathryn Cooper, a woman in her forties was sitting before them. Beside her was a man in his mid to late sixties. He went by the name of Mr. Vee, his real name a secret, and there was no love lost between the two, well on Kathryn’s part anyway.

“So Miss Cooper” the elderly male senate chairman opened with, “You are the Chairman of the of the executive oversight committee of the organisation known as the Inter Dimensional Entity Control, but referred to in shorthand as The Committee?”
“That is correct Senator” Kathryn replied into the microphone
“I think we all find it incredible that not only is there the existence of a parallel universe with a world known as IDW01 to some and The Mystical Realms to others, but that there has been official treaties with what are termed the ruling authorities of this world”
“The reason is” Kathryn tried to begin, but she was interrupted by the Senate Chairman
“We know the reason Miss Cooper, that incident with the Columbian drug cartel”
“Well I hope you realise that by working” Kathryn tried again, but the senate chairman was having none of it and interrupted again.
“But it was so called working with these authorities that lead to a large contingent of marines being slaughtered in a turkey shoot, because they were betrayed by not one entity from that world, but I have just been informed, two entities from that world. And I must add, these were entities you and your UK director had trusted. Is that not correct?”

Kathryn was shocked, officially the report had said that there had been one traitor, which was Hadal an elf from the High Council of Elves, who had unknown to them been the twin brother of Zathan the leader of the Magnus Timor cult, but secretly she knew of one other traitor, Paddy McGurty a leprechaun with G2, the Republic of Ireland’s military intelligence service.

“Are you referring to the Troll Chamberlain?” Kathryn ventured, hoping they were referring to him; as he had assisted in the cult’s assault on the troll citadel of Karam Tag Chou.

“No!” The senate chairman barked back, “We have been informed that an entity who was working for one of our allies here on Earth was also complicit in this massacre of our troops”
“What!” Kathryn exclaimed How had they found this out, the acting director of the UK section US Marine Colonel Samuel Peters had persuaded even the troll Clan Chief of the Manjura to keep quiet
“You seem surprised Miss Cooper” The senate chairman went on, “Is this because your staff has not been as forth coming with information or is it because you have lied to this committee by leaving that out of the final report?” Then after a pause, “Which is it Miss Cooper, is this incompetence on your part or a cover up on your part?”

Kathryn looked daggers at Mr Vee, He had been involved with the IDEC under the old management when the policy relating to IDE’s had been Incarcerate – Interrogate and Exterminate. Mr Vee had even appointed the last director to espouse that policy, Mr Blue and his own aid had tried to return the IDEC to that dark path. they must have found out about the leprechaun from Mr Vee

Mr Vee looked at Kathryn with puzzlement as if he had been taken by surprise that the chairman knew of this other traitor..

“The committee is waiting to hear the answer Miss Cooper” the senate chairman pressed.
“Neither” Mr Vee interrupted, “Since the alleged traitor worked for the Republic of Ireland, an important ally, I felt it was expedient to withhold that information to avoid embarrassing them, and since a number of you are dependent on campaign donations from Irish Americans, I did not think you would want it made known either that this ally’s humiliation was recorded, but if you insist…”
“Are you trying to threaten us?” The Senate chairman asked in disbelief
“Senator, I am merely educating you in a political reality, when you are straying from the point, if we had not intervened to assist this other world, then this Magnus Timor would have succeeded and we would not be around to debate this issue”

Kathryn was perplexed as to why Mr Vee was helping her, ever since he used leverage of the disastrous mission to cancel the rebuilding of the Facility in London England, move the IDEC to Washington DC and maintain his seat on the committee.

Kathryn suddenly came to herself again and started speaking, “Senator, my colleague is right, it was our co-operation that allowed the operations director to neutralise this threat to both our worlds”

Another senator, an African-American then joined the questioning, “Miss Cooper, I find it disturbing, that your colleague here is censoring reports before you see them. I understand he may think he has our personal and political interests at heart, but does this not mean that you are not in control of this multi agency task force?”

Mr Vee interrupted before Kathryn could answer, “My colleague is very busy and poorly resourced, I myself had to come to her rescue from a shape-shifting assassin because she was inadequately protected due to budget constraints imposed by your committee. The operation would have been compromised more likely by the elf traitor than a minor disaffected leprechaun who was angry at not being considered suitable to join the IDEC special operations team. A team which may I remind the committee here were all but one of them, killed in action in order to save this planet and IDW01”

The African American senator still was trying to press Kathryn on her role as the chairman of the IDEC executive oversight committee, “That is all very well, and I would like to pay tribute to those who lost their lives defending this planet, but I still have concerns as to whether you are up to the job Miss Cooper and whether you are fully in control of this special organisation. May I also remind you of the two incidents when a subordinate was able to order retrieval squads to take into custody one civilian, one allied IDE and two half-IDEs. He was able to do this without your authorisation”

“That was my former aid” Mr Vee interrupted again, “I understand he and others who did not share the new ethos of the IDEC, took advantage of my colleague who was on a steep learning curve after the untimely death of the former chairman, the late Gregory Sanderson. I personally took responsibility and facilitated their removal including my former aid”

“And that was by extreme sanction on foreign soil” the African American senator pressed Mr Vee
“That is correct Senator” Mr Vee replied in a matter of fact manner, then pre-empting Kathryn, threw in, “For the record Senator, the half IDE’s as you call them are now classed as fully human, and the two you referred to are American citizens since with the help of the IDEC and our partners from Ireland, they willingly relinquished their IDE status and powers in return for their human souls, and I would like to make it crystal clear to this committee, they are not a threat to national security in anyway shape or form”

Kathryn was annoyed, relieved and puzzled all at the same time, Why was Mr Vee, formally her ideological opponent defending her and the former minor spirits of virtue, Mazy Schneider and Rebecca Sands

A female senator joined in, “Mr Vee, you seem to be speaking more than your chairman here, what do you make of her leadership of the IDEC, do you still feel you should be in charge?”

Kathryn looked at Mr Vee with a sudden sinking feeling, Was he after her position as chairman? He had been on the shortlist just after Gregory had died, but she to her surprise was the one appointed

“Senator” Mr Vee began, I have every confidence in our Chairman’s leadership of the IDEC, I just wish that you would be funding this vital department more than you are prepared to put resources into other areas”

The senate chairman then took back the questioning, “Miss Cooper, since we were, according to your report, saved virtually single handed by this operations director, where is he? Why is he not appearing before us this morning?”

Kathryn looked the senate chairman in the eye, “Because Senator, he has gone to England to speak at the memorial of one of his team members who was killed in action. If you wish to speak to him, he will be back sometime tomorrow evening”

“I think” the African American Senator replied, “We can adjourn and wait to question Colonel Samuel Peters on his return, given the loss he sustained, which included a decorated marine commander who served under him in operation restore freedom”

There was a nodding of heads from the senators present, although the senate chairman was last to acquiesce.
“Agreed” the senate chairman said reluctantly, “But I warn you Miss Cooper, we are seriously wondering if this treaty with IDW01 is a path we wish to continue to follow. There are voices that maintain that such powerful beings that exist there could be a clear and present danger, and we should use all possible means to break all links with that world”
“And that would be a big mistake sir” Kathryn replied, “From a strategic point of view sir, it makes sense to have a suitable bolt hole in time of national emergency. And even if we did want to have nothing to do with IDW01, there are other countries, including Russia who are now dealing with certain power blocks on IDW01, namely the Drow”

The senate chairman seemed to ignore her, and then proceedings were suspended.

Kathryn picked up her papers and slowly left the chamber, leaving Mr Vee pondering about something. There was clearly a leak at the IDEC, someone had talked about the leprechaun’s treachery, and apart from the Colonel, there was possibly one other person she knew who could have done so, but why?

Episode one continued in next posting