Crossing Lines

MY NAME IS ARSHES MEGANE AND I AM IMMORTAL. How many lines do you cross when trying to save lives? A thousand years after the Guardians of Time and Magic saved Tempestria from an Angel, the Guardianship is broken. Only Mandalee remains and after centuries of peace, the world no longer cares. But Tempestria’s swirling void storms are living up to their name. No longer just pretty lights in the sky, they trigger devastating hurricanes, quakes, fires and floods, and the death toll is rising by the day. Now, there’s a Monster on the loose with chaotic powers that can destroy Time itself, and one True Guardian is not enough. To save the world, Arshes Megane is driven to break the rules, leading to her dangerous gamble of an Illegal Time Intervention. Are her actions justified, or will she cross one line too many? This is the story of The Salvation of Tempestria, as told by an immortal girl from the future using an Illegal Time Intervention to save the world…or possibly end it.

Chapter 1 My name is Arshes Megane, and I am an idiot. Specifically, at the moment, I’m an idiot who is stuck inside a pocket dimension. How did this happen, gentle reader? Short answer: I had just returned from an extended Time trip, I opened my pocket dimension for a moment, the void-creature appeared, and he pushed me inside, collapsing the entrance behind me. Which basically means I’m trapped. It reminds me of the time my mother got stuck in Aunt Mandalee’s demon trap in Compton when they were both still so young. Focusing on the positives, I’m not naked, but on the negative side, nobody is going to come along to let me out. Even if they knew I was here, they couldn’t – and opening a pocket dimension from the inside is a very different prospect to doing it from the outside. In fact, it’s never been done, so things aren’t looking good for me right now. You’re probably confused about this, aren’t you, gentle reader? After all, throughout my writings so far, I told you I was in my house, using an adaptive anti-magic field and my mother’s otherwise powerless old staff to keep the Red and Black Guardians trapped in my bedroom. Furthermore, my house was, crudely speaking, inside a bubble of Time with which I was keeping the rest of the world at bay. Using my unique powers to effectively press the pause button on world events. At the same time, the White Guardian, Mandalee – my aunt and co-conspirator – went to fetch my father from a critical moment just before the Fall of Kullos. All that was true, but things have changed and, to be honest, I’ve been too busy to write any further. So, what happened? Again, going with the short answer: the Guardians happened. Between them and the void-creature, I’m afraid the pause button slipped a bit. As for the long answer…that requires some explanation, and with world events moving again, I’m not sure if I have time to tell the story. If only I were somehow trapped in a pocket dimension with literally nothing better to do… …Oh wait, that’s right: I am! ***** As you will recall, gentle reader, I had just finished writing about the day of my birth. You will understand, I’m sure, that that moment is difficult for me to watch and relate. The day my mother, Catriona Redfletching, gave up the last of her life to make sure that I would live. She sacrificed herself for me. That’s not something I can get over even after a thousand years. My unique relationship with Time means I can watch her live her life, and that’s a privilege I cherish enormously. Even so, I would gladly give it up in favour of some alternative Timeline where she got to live and be there for me when I was a child. Don’t get me wrong, my two aunts – Dreya and Mandalee – were nothing less than stellar parents, and I love them dearly, but I don’t think it’s wrong for me to wish for my mum. Don’t worry, gentle reader, I have no intention of trying to make my wish come true. I know better than that. Besides, I have quite enough on my plate with one illegal and dangerous Time Intervention. Especially now that all my carefully laid plans seem to have gone somewhat off the rails. Speaking of which, returning to my point, watching that moment again – my mother’s self-sacrifice – and writing about it, caused me to get a little distracted. In fact, I’m going to stop mincing words and give it to you straight: I left my writing desk, fled into my spare bedroom (my own room being currently occupied), flung myself onto the bed and cried my eyes out. Here I am, a grown woman, about a thousand years old, the light of my half-Shadowkin nature contained within the box of a half-Faery body, and I have power over Time itself. Yet, when faced with that scene of my mother’s death, I am nothing more than a lost child, crying for her mum. And I’m not even remotely ashamed of that. So yes, I got distracted, and the Guardians took full advantage. The Red Guardian, Fabian, had already found a way to circumvent my shields once. Reaching back to contact my mother and spout some nonsense about her having ‘one chance’ to talk to me, which, as I’ve said, is impossible. But that was Fabian exploiting a unique set of circumstances, so I didn’t think too much of it. It seems I underestimated him because he managed to sneak his Guardian magic through the dimensions, through the tiniest crack, and wedge it open just enough to allow the Black Guardian, Silvarnus, to guide a trickle of Time from outside into my house. The first I knew about it was when the trickle of Time was accompanied by a trickle of water. Muddy water that travelled from my back garden, underneath my patio doors. As the Guardians continued their work, the trickle of Time started to erode my barriers, and in response, the flow of muddy water under the doors became a flood. Hastily drying my own flood of tears, I tried to staunch the flow of Time, but I was too late. Time was a raging river that resisted my every effort to turn the tide. Choosing my battles, I turned my attention to the muddy water that continued to flow into my room. At the very least, I could prevent all my things from being ruined. As I worked my magic, however, I quickly realised this was no ordinary flood. The way they were forming discrete puddles was my first clue, but the thing that really gave it away was the moment those puddles coalesced into humanoid shapes and advanced on me. I backed away, trying to focus my magic. After all, it was only mud – soil plus water. I could dry the creatures out, let them collapse and simply sweep the dirt back outside. Except I couldn’t because that process required time, and I couldn’t make that work for me the way it should. It was as if the bubble that I’d been using to keep Time at bay had been turned inside out. It was like when the Guardians are out of their own Time zone but connected to Catriona’s Meadow. Timeless. Except I wasn’t invisible, the clue being that the creatures were lumbering towards me, squelching with every step. Four of them, then six, then ten pairs of arms reached out to touch me. I didn’t know what would happen if they did, but I didn’t fancy waiting around to find out. Nor was I incorporeal, given that I cracked my shin painfully against the corner of a set of drawers as I whirled around to flee the room. Time – usually my greatest ally – was now working against me. This was obviously the Guardians’ work. I knew they’d been getting creative for a while, and finally, they’d found a way to beat me. Taking full advantage of my distracted state, they had managed to put me in a Temporal trap. All my magic, all the abilities of my higher planar nature, were cut off. In effect, I was now nothing more than what I appeared to be: an ordinary mortal girl. Over the centuries, I’ve often thought that might be a good thing, but right at that moment, it was rather inconvenient timing. Seeing nothing else for it, I ran out, slamming the door and locking it behind me. Even as I fled down the hall, I could hear the mud creatures pounding on the door, each thud accompanied by that same disgusting squelching sound. I didn’t expect my door to stop them and didn’t wait around to watch. Instead, I grabbed my mother’s staff away from my bedroom door and cancelled my adaptive anti-magic field along with all my associated magic. Letting the Guardians out of my trap was not part of my plan at this stage, but they had forced my hand. Whatever our differences, I couldn’t let those creatures loose on them, even if they’d apparently had no qualms about setting them loose on me. The mud creatures were oozing under the door of my spare room – I could hear them – so, reluctantly, I yanked my bedroom door open to confront the Guardians, who were standing there looking rather smug. “What the hell have you done?” I demanded. Silvarnus shrugged. “You gave us Time, and that’s something you should never give a Guardian if you expect to win. Fabian and I are good with Time.” The Red Guardian nodded in agreement. “We might not be able to see higher dimensions the way you can,” he conceded, “but our magic can still operate there with a bit of imagination.” Silvarnus and Fabian, the latest Guardians, might have thought they were clever, but I’d already started to find my way out of their Temporal binding. It was as though they had dropped me in the middle of an unfamiliar room with a blindfold that I couldn’t remove. It would take me a while, and I did bang my metaphysical shins a few times, but I could still feel my way out. When operating in multiple higher dimensions, it’s virtually impossible to cut off every angle. I know that all too well from my battles with the void-creature. Of course, in his case, he has the advantage of some chaotic rules, but then given my own higher planar nature, I’m not without a few tricks of my own. The mud creatures came stumbling down the hallway towards us, and I cast out my magic at them. Even as the two Guardians had stood there gloating, I had managed to get partway out of their Temporal trap. Not enough to use the full range of my abilities, but enough for simple druid magic. I tried to do what I’d attempted earlier, thinking that I had surely regained enough of my magic for a basic drying spell, but it didn’t work. I tried to use compressed air to crush them, but that failed, too. Air, it seemed, no matter how dense, was no barrier. A wall of ice was equally ineffective. They just seemed to swap the water in their own bodies for that in the ice wall and pass straight through, the obstacle having merely slowed them down. Shyleen was by my side in an instant, growling menacingly at the creatures, hackles raised and extending her claws. Her feline instinct was driving her to attack. Her powerful desire to protect me as if I were her own cub was heartwarming as always, but I warned her to stay back. At the time, I didn’t know why I was acting as if these mud creatures were a unit of deadly Angelic soldiers come to Cleanse us with the merest touch, but I trusted my instincts. Then, to my surprise, Fabian stuck his head around the door to see what was happening. I expected him to give some clever wisecrack about how the oh-so-powerful Arshes Megane couldn’t stop a few piles of mud. Instead, he recoiled in revulsion. “What the hell are those things?” he asked. I rounded on him, demanding, “You don’t know?” He shook his head, squinting in puzzlement. “Why would I?” One glance at Silvarnus told me the Black Guardian was equally clueless. Until that moment, I had assumed it was their handiwork, all part of their plan to force me to release them. I was wrong. But if it wasn’t them, there was only one other possible explanation. Since circumstances had made us allies, at least for the moment, I stepped aside to let Fabian and Silvarnus out of my room so they could help. They unleashed their magic, mixing wizard, cleric and druid gifts in various combinations, but all they succeeded in doing was leaving scorch marks on my wall and allowing pictures to come crashing down to the floor. I threw up another ice wall to buy a little more time. “Could you please not wreck my house?” I grumbled. Before I had a chance to do anything more, I heard another voice. The voice of someone who had just transported herself inside. Someone who could change the balance of power here while I continued to squeeze myself out of the Temporal trap. “Arshes?” she called out. It was Aunt Mandalee. ‘Come quick!’ Shyleen called out telepathically. Aunt Mandalee had long since taught me the language of leopards, but the way my dear surrogate mother used her super-speed to reach my side, Shyleen’s words would not have been hard to guess. The leopard also relayed my warning not to let the creatures touch anybody, so her dragonclaw daggers remained sheathed. Instead, she drew her sword. The magic of that weapon did not rely on physical contact. Somewhat less restrained was the beam cannon blast that streaked past my ear, trying to engulf the mud creatures. The creatures were again immune to its effects, but it did blast a gaping hole, first in my ice wall and second in the wall of my house. That gave easy access to yet more mud creatures from outside, but I ignored that in favour of turning to see where the weapon blast had come from. I knew who it was, of course – there was only one person it could have been – but seeing him in the flesh was something else. The form of a tall, muscular man with shoulder-length hair and grey eyes belied the fact that he was so much more underneath. Within that mortal shell lay the essence of a shadow warrior. A being whose true nature was like mine – light in a box. Daelen StormTiger. My father. The tears of sorrow over my mother that I had banished earlier threatened to transform into tears of joy at finally being in the same room as him. Even as my powers began gathering around me again, I almost didn’t want them back. I longed to be the simple mortal girl that I appeared to be. I wanted to cry, “Daddy!” and run to him so that he could shelter me in his powerful arms and protect me from the monsters. But that isn’t my story. That isn’t who I am, and that’s not why I brought my father here. So, I fought back the tears, held my ground and fell back on my standard defence mechanism: sarcasm. “Oh great, thanks. I was thinking of knocking through there to build an extension. You’ve done half the job for me!” Floating some of the debris down the hallway, I created a new partition wall in the path of the creatures, sprinkling in a bit of sand and fusing it into a glass window, so we could still see through to the other side. In keeping with previous observations, walls of brick, stone and apparently even glass were barriers to them, where frozen water was not. I almost regretted the window. The squelching sound they made as they pounded on the wall was bad enough, but the sight was even worse. Their hands, arms and even heads continually squashed and deformed themselves with every impact. It was truly horrific. Turning to the Three Guardians, I asked, “Any chance you three could do your thing while I still have a house left?” Understanding, they linked their powers, focused their will and Froze Time, encompassing my whole house, just in case the creatures decided to try entering elsewhere. To do this, the Red and Black Guardians had to abandon their Temporal trap, so they had no choice but to release me, just as I had been forced to release them. I was instantly my whole self again, and a Frozen Timefield was nothing to me. The pounding had stopped, though, so it seemed the creatures were trapped. Unfortunately, my father was also stuck in that snapshot of Time. Silvarnus fixed Aunt Mandalee with an accusing glare. “So, you went ahead and brought him here despite our objections.” “You really think this is the right time to be having this old debate?” she shot back. “Why not?” he returned. “The threat’s contained. We have time.” “I wouldn’t be so sure about that."