by The Eurostar and T5
One minute ago, Aurochs was the most frightened man on the face of the earth. He felt like when he was thirteen years old, stalked by the gang at school, beaten for a dollar. At that time, he swore nobody would have ever threatened him like that. Since then, he had ever been away from the danger, behind the corner, to watch without being caught.
And he always succeeded, never having to endure a fight like the other Cloaks. But this time nothing went as planned. He sold his magic to Clive Collins in exchange for the secret of immortality, to perform a work that to his eyes was easy like drinking a glass of water. To clear the pieces of land across the globe from their inhabitants.
And easy it was, until these men -- these metahumans -- had shown. And then all went bad. People able to fight the minions of the hidden land, and even to ask their lord to gently leave the field. Who are they?
And then, they caught him! They left him only enough time to perform a change of appearance on himself, a magic that left him without energy to defend himself more actively. Hell, that wasn't the truth. He was just too scared to fight.
But the trick was successful. They thought he was not the being they spotted in the cavern, so they went away, back into the tunnel, to find clues. Fools!
"You! Leave me and go away! And forget all!" shouted Aurochs to Patrick Keith Richard III and to his secretary. His eyes burned with a raging fire.
The two people, mesmerized, walked away.
Aurochs then turned toward the entrance of the tunnel. He knew what he had to do. In no way he could defeat them in battle. In no way he could find adversaries enough strong to smash them. Probably they would end playing Risk with them. There was only one thing he could do to get rid of them: seal them in.
But not sealing them in the tunnel. That would be no match for someone who talked the earth into giving favors to him.
He would seal them much more deeper, in the inner realm itself. There they would find, without doubt, allies, but for sure also beings that would not come to such terms with them. And even if they found a way back, it would not be the same, and they would end in only-God-knows-what place on Earth. And not today, not tomorrow, not the day after.
He would have all the time he needed to earn his reward from Collins.
The mage, standing on the opening of the tunnel, made an ample gesture, whispering words in a language that seemed to lack vowels. Then, a light flashed out of it, and then only silence.
Aurochs fell on his knees. Better to find immortality soon, he thought. All the magic I have performed I bet has left me with only a few days still to live.
He stood up, took a little branch from a nearby bush to use like a walking stick, and slowly went toward the airport, because he had no energy left to teleport himself to Collins' place.
After a mile, a heavy tremor shook the ground as an earthquake finally destroyed the mining camp under a colossal landslide. Aurochs continued to walk and smiled, without turning back.
Meanwhile, in the tunnel, the seven heroes experienced a sudden flash of light. Then all was dark as before.
"What happened?" asked Dirk Bell.
"I bet we'll find out soon enough," whispered Danny Hearn, while even Tobias Christopher seemed a little concerned, as shown by the fact that he didn't run forward as usual.
After a few feet, the tunnel began to be lit by burning torches hanging from the walls of the tunnel. And a few hundred feet in, they see an open door, or an arch made of big stones.
They reach it and pass through it. On the other side, there is a wine cellar, with a small, bald, gray-bearded man. He stood in front of a small pool.
As the team entered, looking around in bewilderment, he said, "Welcome to the Pool. I am the Caretaker." He smiled and held out his hands toward Turkish Stringfellow, who accepted it.
He snickered, "You youngsters were just about to be sent into a rather uncomfortable place. Luckily I managed to intercept."
"And you are...?" asked Danny carefully.
"He is the Caretaker," answers Naecken matter-of-factly. His was in pain.
Stringfellow looked at the man. "I sense a connection between you and Naecken."
"That's right... my brother is a part of him."
Danny gave Naecken a thoughtful look and asked, "How?"
"He conducted extradimensional alchemy to gain access to materials not found on this plane of existence. The accident was partly his fault, as he sent the mystical energy through a vortex. Little did he know that the vortex was connected to five different realities... But I'm standing here talking... you don't have much time."
"Why not?" asked Naecken.
"A demon that came from the same world as your darker self appeared in Chicago a few months ago. This same demon is now at the beck and call of another... someone that has your worst fears in store for you. I'm afraid that nothing in your lives will ever be the same again."
And with that, he activated the pool, and its mystical energies warped space time.
The sunset at La Perdita was the last thing the team was prepared to see. They were home, but with a few miles' walk to the house.
And the words of the old man still echoed in their minds.