Alex Chase: Beyond The Multiverse

Chapter 9: Where's There's Light, There's Always Shadow

*Eleven-year-old Gwen Tennyson*

" What's the Barrel?" I asked Alex. Alex gave me a mischievous grin that I had only ever liked on Ben. On anybody else, it just looked plain evil.

" I was hoping you'd ask that. The Barrel, as you call it, is basically like a doorway to everything. I can go anywhere I want, even the forbidden places. . . . you know what, just think of it like this. Have you ever heard of the Underworld?"

" Yeah. Where Hades punishes, or rewards spirits of the dead right?" I asked.

" Exactly. Have you ever heard the story of how it's underground, like, at the lowest level of the Earth? Well, that's actually a myth. Going into the Underworld is going into another dimension altogether.

There are levels of it, like any place with reality. The Underworld is the first level, meant for humans and aliens that don't have any power of any sort. Even Galvan, with their extra smarts. The next level is what's known as the Pits of Tartarus.

It's where mythological monsters, and evil beings with a sense of destruction are punished. Then there's Night, where all dark, and evil magic comes from. There's another place, where beings who aren't orginally intended to use their powers for evil get their magic, which is assumed as the Dawn Dimension, or Legerdomian.

After that it's just an instant black hole into the Outside, otherwise known as Chaos. The Underworld is the place where you are the least likely to go insane in the whole of the Death Realm. But. . . I'm getting off track here.

My room: connected to a empty void of everything that doesn't exist, cannot cause any damage to anything, because the room is made out of the most unbreakable material in the whole Omniverse. It is indestructible. So, do you want to see the Destruction Incantation or not?" I sighed. I looked across the room at Ben. He shrugged.

" Okay fine. But we gotta get back to Grandpa soon. . . ."

" Fine. But put these on." She handed us each a set of very dark sunglasses.

" Why do we need these?"

" You'll see." Alex slapped her hands together and the lights went out. I counted up to five seconds in my head without any light or sound. Then, I saw a small golden light.

It started as a big circle under a lot of blonde hair. Then it expanded. The light twisted and turned down an unseen object, lighting up a twelve-year-old body with what looked like concentrated sunlight spreading rapidly down her hair.

Alex's hair was completely lit up now, and was floating off the ground. We could see a silhouette of her body rising a little off the floor. Her hair started to grow brighter, and we could see her hands moving in strange patterns.

A huge amount of golden energy transformed her. Her black shirt spred down her clothes to covered her whole outfit. Her pants where brought just above her ankles and expanded to make a skirt.

Her T-shirt sleeves became skinnier and skinner on her shoulders. The new gorgeous black dress showed off her athletic figure. Suddenly, it looked like a vast amount of space had formed around me, Ben, and Alex.

A bunch of tiny stars in the sky came shooting down towards us. I looked over at Ben. He wore an expression that resembled a mixture of remembering something he'd wanted to forget, and nostalgia.

I think this is what it had felt like for him when the Omnitrix suddenly changed course and came directly at him. The stars didn't land near us at all, but instead attached themselves to Alex's black dress.

When the stars stopped, she looked like she was wearing the night itself on her clothes. She extended her arms out at her sides like a scarecrow with her palms out. She pulled them in and slapped her hands together.