Xanum

Chapter Four

For about ten seconds all we could see was the blinding light. Just as it started to seem to burn my eyes, the light instantly vanished. It took my eyes around a minute to adjust to the lack of light, and once they adjusted, I found myself standing in a dark lab. The only light came from a machine that gave off a strange, green glow. All around us were vials containing strange liquids and unknown little creatures. Pinned on one of the walls was a strange sword. In a case near it, was a pair of gloves that glinted and reflected the glow from the machine. I looked at Tony, confused. He offered no explanation, he was just as confused as I was. I looked back at the light. Standing in front of the machine with the ominous glow was a silhouette of a man, and slowly, he turned to face us. There was nowhere to hide.

His face contorted into a warm and friendly smile. He snapped his fingers and the lights flashed on above us. His face was carved well and he had a beard, with pepper-colored hair on his scalp. His skin was like copper, and his arms were scarred and dark. His eyes were silverish and glinted wherever he looked. When he opened his mouth to speak, laugh-lines showed themselves with great definition.

"I see from your jacket pocket that you got my sphere. I know who you are, and I need your help. In the years to come, this world is going to collapse. I created machines, and they will turn on us. This I know. My daughter, Alice, I need you to watch over her, and protect her if need be," he said in a calm, soothing voice.

I didn't know what to think of him. How did he know who we were? The sphere was his? How did he get it into a meteorite? 'This world'? "How are we supposed to help her? How did we get here? Is that sphere some sort of black magic?" I spurted out.

The man shook his head. "I have travelled between many realms, worlds, universes. All with the use of that sphere. It is fashioned from a chunk of a planet I call Iodam, and it died long ago. When it exploded, its pieces crashed all throughout almost every universe, and it had an energy within it that was different from mine, yours, or any earth I've visited. If it chooses to bless you, it marks you, as it did upon your arms. Very few are blessed with the marks. Given the correct information, you can use the power it has given you to affect the world around you. You can't remain here for long, so I must teach you what you need to know, so that you can check on my daughter in the future, and save her life if the time comes." With that said, he strode towards us and took the sphere from Tony's pocket.

"What are you talking about? Marks? What the hell are these tattoos, anyway? What do they mean?" I asked.

He turned around and walked back to the counter by the machine. "The mark of the travellers, or the tattoos, as you call them, are a tale, a story. They are, well, to be frank, they're magic. Magic has been seared into your being, it's changed you. Every atom in your body was altered the moment you touched the Iodam," he explained. He started scribbling down something on a piece of paper. I looked at Tony and shrugged. I walked over to the man and looked at what he was doing. He was writing in the same runic language as the tattoos on my arm. Once he was done, he turned to me and said: "This spell is very important. It can be used to traverse time, and when the time comes, you'll use it to save my daughter. It has got its limitations, as it should." I was confused. Why would I need to use 'magic'? Why was this man talking like that? He held the paper up to my hand, and I took it.

Then he turned to Tony and said: "Now, keep that paper until you meet someone who can show you how to read the language. One last thing," he paused for a good moment, looked around the room and took a deep breath, "Be careful. I'm now sending you to a planet different from your own, so that eventually, if the need arises, you can help your own planet." he said.

"What? What are you on, dude? Did you trip out on some mushrooms or something? I don't know how you managed the whole thing with the sphere and the meteor, but you need to send us back, now. We're just kids, dude. You've got no right to involve us in your craziness," I said. He strode closer to me, until he was right up in my face.

"I have every right. You don't know the threats of the multiverse. There are things coming for your home, and I am preparing you while asking for something in return." as he said this, anger flashed across his face but vanished just as quickly.

"Yo, let's just call the cops and get out of here. This isn't worth the time we've spent on it," Tony said. He reached down into his pocket and took out his phone, but before Tony could even turn it on, the man brought up one hand and reached out.

"Give it to me," he said.

"What the fuck? Hell no," Tony said. He turned on his phone, and a moment later, his phone crumpled into a ball. I looked in shock at the man, whose outstretched hand had turned into a fist.

"What the hell did you just do?" I asked. I stepped backward.

"I am not going to hurt you. I mean that. But I cannot allow you to deviate from the path I've set you on," he said. He opened his hand, and a moment later, I felt my phone slipping out of my pocket. What the fuck? The phone split in half and flew across the room. "One last thing, my name is Jon Dufré, if my daughter asks who sent you... just let her know it was her dad." he paused for a moment and shook his head, then smiled at us. "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready for what?" I asked defensively.

"Good enough," Jon said. "I don't have much time to explain, but I'll give you this much. This sphere uses time dilation to perfect its travel between worlds, and I need to make sure that we don't miss the specific time-frame that you both need to arrive. If I'm off by a second, years could go by, and my plan will fail. There is no time. Are you ready?" Jon said. Tony and I nodded in agreement and confusion. Jon pressed several buttons on the sphere and tossed it to us. The room vanished in a blinding flash.