Chapter One.

URU Chronicles: Alliteration

CHAPTER ONE.

All my life, I've been told "You can't escape destiny. You can't escape Fate."

If that's the case, Then Someone somewhere must really hate me with a vengeance.

AE'GURA ISLE_ _ _| OCTOBER 2007_ _ _| ??? POV_ _ _|

It was all out war, I'd reasoned while watching the bahro swarm the arch from my cozy little spot on the Library Plaza. There were Good Bahro. There were Bad Bahro. They were fighting. It was nothing new, really. We had known this was happening since June...Or was it July?... It had only been that SUMMER (or was it spring?) For crying out loud, and I had already pushed that day's events to the far corner's of my mind.

"Why are they doing?" An explorer to my right had asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Said another. "They're fighting!"

"I hope they don't come over here..." Another explorer worried, thinking back to when Rose and Wheely---

"Come on, I doubt they will!" Yet Another commented with a turn of his head.

The 'battle' had started something in all of us, I'd noted. We were all wearing our Journey Shirts that day, as if some piece of burlap cloth would protect us from the Bahro's sharp claws should they take offence at our presence. A little too late for that now, I'd suspected.

APRIL 10th, 2008_ _ _| URU OBSESSION'S NEIGHBORHOOD_ _ _|

I watched as the explorers all shared their goodbyes, and danced and partied until the last possible moment. Then, they left, some to their Reltos, most to the surface. I didn't have my KI on, so no-one noticed as I slipped back to relto. A Party it was.

"I'm staying here." I'd decided.

JULY 13th, 2008_ _ _| GAHREESEN_ _ _|

To fully understand, I need to back track a bit.

When first I returned the pillars last, back when this all started, a Bahro started hanging out in my relto.

At first, whenever I spotted him, he linked away. Then, as the months went on, he started venturing closer. I'm positive he was the one who popped into Kirel that one week. I went back to the surface every now and again, for supplies and the like. But for the most part I lived on relto and the ages. Teledahn for sleep. Gira for fresh meat. I have a little garden in Kemo too, The constant rain is a major help.

This bahro, though, he seemed to like the oranges I brought back from my surface trips. Every time I put my groceries down on the hut floor, and turned to return to my normal explorer's gear, the little guy sneaked in and snatched them up. It was quite amusing when I caught him that one time, sitting in the tippy top branches of my pine tree, munching on the fruit. His little blue eyes widened immensely, and he tried juggling the orange about in an attempt to hide the evidence.

I decided to call him Tomoki, after a character from an Anime I was fond of, due to his height difference to mine. Now I know for sure, He doesn't mind the name, certainly a lot easier to say than his real one.

I would invite him along on my random jaunts through the ages, just leave the tab to a book open, and he got the hint.

It was during one of these trips, to Gahreesen for some 'rare-er' meat verities, that we were confronted. Not by a DRC member, not by Yeesha, not even by a D'ni survivor.

No.

The Daughter of the Leader of the Nekisahl, Adale.

NORMAL POV_ _ _|

The Explorer, and his Bahro Companion, stop in their tracks somewhere in the middle of the Gahreesen Forrest as a low, deep growl emanates through the tree trunks.

This growl wasn't from a native.

The Explorer pulls a small Shotgun from his backpack and stands back to back with the bahro.

"What do you think?" reads the expression on the Explorer's face. "Fight or flight?"

The Bahro’s eyes narrow as it readies it's claws. "We wait to see what it is first."

"Turning on a dime." The explorer mutters as he primes his shot gun, and raising it to eye level.

The forest is quiet, not a bird, not a monster, not a sound. Just the duo's own breathing.

Then, a sound reaches their ears: A branch, snapping, from the east.

The explorer swings the shotgun around and fires both barrels.

A Bahro, not much larger than the one by the Explorer's side, dives out of the foliage, the strange armor covering her body was barely scratched by the weapon's wide spread. This bahro is the leader of the armies for the fraction called the Nekisahl, or "Twisted." She snarls at the smaller bahro standing with the explorer, before charging at him.

The explorer fires the gun again at the Nekisahl Bahro as she jumps towards the Bahro, with little effect as the demon comes down on him. The Explorer then jumps onto the her back, trying to keep her away from hurting his friend, the Smaller bahro..

The Nekisahl throws the Explorer off, then turns his claws on him, only to get another shotgun blast to the chest. No damage. The Sandwich tangle is reversed, as the Explorer holds up his Shot gun in an attempt to protect himself from the warrior-ess' claws, and the smaller bahro wraps his arms around the lager’s neck in a poor attempt at a strangle hold.

The Nekisahl, annoyed at this turn of events throws herself upright, tossing the smaller bahro into a tree. She then grabs the Explorer, and tosses him into the smaller bahro. The Female warrior then sends a spark of lightning across her claws with what could only be described as a grin.

She arcs the spark over itself several times, all the time chanting a strange chant. Finally, with what could be described as a solid pillar of light between her claws, the Demon tosses the energy at the explorer and his bahro companion, taking them out of existence in a flash of light.

TAY_ _ _| SURFACE YEAR 1825_ _ _| CATHRINE'S POV/JOURNAL_ _ _|

I don't know what to think. Honestly, things are a bit... Strange. Abnormal. My sons, Sirrus and Achenar, are dead. One killed in his mad attempt to take his sister's place, the other sacrificed for her sake. Poor Yeesha, She loved them dearly.

But, I digress. Sirrus' actions are not the strangest thing to happen this week. Yesterday, a boy and a strange creature appeared by the link in point in a flash of light unlike any link I have ever seen. It was almost...Mystical in nature. As if the natural laws of linking were warped and twisted to someone's own use.

If the boy and this creature are the cause has yet to be seen, as they are both unconscious currently. Our doctor noted that they appeared to have gone through a struggle before appearing here. Perhaps their linking book was destroyed as they linked, sending them off course?

On the subject of linking books, the boy was carrying a small, thin linking book on his hip. It has a green cover with Yeesha's name written on the cover in a stylized Mandela. Yeesha does not recognize this book, so I suspect they must be either from another branch of the great tree, or, as Atrus's friend believes, they are from a far away future. The former would confirm the creature's existence, as no D'ni on Releeshan has seen such a beast.

Atrus noted that the boy had an old Maintainer's Mark Three Communication device on hand, supporting the latter theory as the device was calibrated to Anna's native English, instead of the current D'ni settings we know they had from our last trip to the Cavern. Also included on the device were ages we have not known to exist. "Relto" and "Minkata" Stand out before the rest, such as the Maintainer's Fortress, the Mushroom world of Teledahn, or Guild Master Kadish's Ahnonay and Er'cana ages.

I do not know what to believe, currently. Yeesha has refused to use her memory amulet since Atrus's friend returned it, leaving me without the memories embedded on the items brought with the boy and his creature as a clue as to what has happened. I don't blame her. What Sirrus did was unforgivable, and Achenar...

She seems fascinated by the creature. I can see Atrus's curiosity brimming behind those saddened eyes. "What is this?" She wonders. "How can I help it?"

Also holding her attention is the boy's linking book. A glimpse at the static filled linking panel reveals an island pillar, surrounded by gaseous clouds. The belt clip attached to the back of the book indicates that it is meant to travel with the linker, although how this is possible I do not know. Atrus is equally boggled at the book's formatting, besides the cover and linking panel, moving any part of the book beyond that is impossible, despite the folded corners at the bottom of several pages.

No writer from D'ni could possibly ever write such a book.

GENERAL POV_ _ _|

Yeesha looks at the Relto Book and the KI from the boy and her memory amulet in turn, all of which were resting on the table before her. "Should I, Or shouldn't I?" she wonders, reaching out a hand for the book, then withdrawing it immediately. She looks to the girl, with near black hair and green eyes, across from her and frowns. "I can't."

Kaiyumi sighs at her friend. "Yeesha, I know things aren't a-okay for you right now, but I'm curious too, and if you're not going to do it, I will."

Yeesha sends an annoyed look towards Kaiyumi. "Sure, you can try, but even Dad says it was giving his friend a headache."

Kaiyumi shrugs. "What's one tiny memory over a minute compared to fifty over a few hours?"

Yeesha considers this, then slides the amulet to the Rivenese girl. "Don't use it on the book. I want to see what's there before anyone else."

The girl grins. "Well, then, how about I try his watch thing?"

Yeesha nods. "Go ahead."

So, with that, Kaiyumi picks up the Memory amulet, then the KI. The Amulet hums, then her view of the world around her is replaced with a view of two rotating buildings in a flash of light.

"Who DESIGNED This place?!" the boys' voice echoes. "I mean, Really, I can understand a Rotating bridge with two connection points, but JUMPING to a ledge from TWO rock formations?"

Another flash, now she could see a giant machine built upon a crystal rotating around a large chamber.

"WAHOO! Go D'ni tech! Haha! NICE! The Great Zero is NOW online! YAHOOOO!"

There was a third flash, and now Kaiyumi could see a mushroom infested swamp. And those were very LARGE mushrooms.

"What? What!? WHAT!?! No! It can't...!" The boy's voice was frantic now. "She can't be dead! She Just Can't! She Can't Be Dead!"

A Fourth Flash, and Kaiyumi dropped the KI with a gasp as the room came back into view.

"You okay?" Yeesha asks.

Kaiyumi gulps. "Not really."

ELSEWHERE_ _ _| ROOM WHERE THE EXPLORER AND BAHRO ARE AT_ _ _|

Tomoki the Bahro was having a dream, A dream of screaming, loud. Fire and Ice and water! He could see others. Beasts. Monsters. "So say the Proud!" His soul was torn, ripped and shattered. Confusion and pain and- Silence.

Tomoki slowly opened one of his sky blue eyes, seeing a cave like wall before him. For a moment, panic overwhelmed his mind and both of his eyes opened wide. The bahro that had attacked them! It must have captured him! Locked inside a cave with no portal out. The distant smell of food floating through the air ceased these thoughts immediately. No bahro could ever make something smell THAT good. No, it smelled like something the Explorer would make- Where was he anyways?

Tomoki struggled to sit upright, how long had he been dreaming? Normally, the nightmares came only once a year. But he had just had a similar dream two weeks ago. That meant he had been asleep for a year? That wasn't right. No, something had thrown his internal clock off. Yeah, that was it.

Tomoki shrugged the thought off and panned his head around the room. There was a door, a wooden gate, slightly primitive looking, compared to the D'ni architecture. There was a small table, next to him, And- there!- on the other side of the room, laying on a cot like the one he himself was sitting on, was the explorer. Unconscious, still, and looking like he was having a nightmare of his own.

Tomoki sighs in relief; nightmares meant that one was nearing consciousness. Nightmares were a sign that you were nearly done healing from shock- If that was even possible.

Tomoki collapses back onto the pillow that his head had been resting on. What was going on? The last thing he could remember was the Demon that had attacked them had thrown them into a tree. 'That. Hurt.' he grumbles to himself. 'I've got to figure out where I am...' He thought. The first thing was where they were.

Tomoki closes his eyes and reaches out mentally to a telepathic network between all living things, linked to what the D'ni called "The Great Tree of Possibilities." To a his surprise, Tomoki was blocked access from this network with a strange reply of "You have no protector."

The network was managed by things called "Guardians" who, as one might expect, protected a traveler's waking mind from being crushed by an overwhelming flow of incoming data. He HAD a guardian, anyone who connected to this network did, or else they couldn't use it. As a being who could link at will, he needed this network in order to control where he would go. Without it, he would have to rely on the books to go to the Ages.

This was disturbing, HOW could he be blocked access? Even inside the link proof chambers, one could still connect to the network. The only possible explanation that came to mind was that he was somehow existing before he was naturally born, and hence, having no guide to allow him to access the established linking paths. And the only way THIS would be possible is if...!

Tomoki's eyes widen. 'No. It can't be. It just can't!' But it was. The bahro that had attacked them, the one with the strange armor, she had sent them Back in time. 'Mom, what did I do to deserve this?' He asked to a creature who, like him, wasn't even born yet.

MEANWHILE: PRESENT DAY_ _ _| ??? BAHRO CAVE # 59_ _ _|

The leader of the Twisted Fraction of the bahro, the very one with the piece of skin removed from his shoulder, grimaces as a warrior storms into the room.

"That was MY Kill." The Female growls. "He was MY KILL!" She lowered her tone. "And you tell me he's still alive?"

The Leader winces. The one being in the entire universe who could dispose him in an instant, his very own daughter, was three steps away from tearing his head off in a similar fashion to how that D'ni man had removed his skin. "I'm...Sorry?" he offers sheepishly.

"'Sorry'?" The female warrior clenches her fists, occurring simultaneously with the cave starting to shake violently. "'Sorry' does not even BEGIN to cover this!" Okay, two steps now. He had better be careful.

"How was I supposed to know your boyfriend was the one who would be the 'time rewriter' of legend?" The Leader immediately regretted saying that, as the warrior before him threw a solid sphere of fire at his head, barely missing by a centimeter. One step.

"He. Is not. My BOYFRIEND!" She takes a quick stride up to the throne where the other bahro was sitting. "Listen well, Father. If I can't kill him, I will destroy every single living creature in the multi-verse until I have that traitor IN MY CLAWS. And that includes YOU."

The girl was staring into her father's eyes, and he saw fire. Burning, destroying, enraged fire. How she became this...this...Twisted Demon before him, he did not know, and so, he carefully considered his reply.

"It seems to me that he is, though." Is what he wanted to say, but that would end his war against The Grower's little group without their side ever making a move. So, he went with a half-truth. "You used a temporal shift link." He says, finally. "Rosenberg's method should return him here. But it will--"

The fire in her eyes diminished, ever so slightly. "Thank you, father." She cut him off, then stormed out of the cave with a deranged look on her face.

The leader sighed as he slumped into his throne. He would live, until she realized that he had said "Rosenberg" instead of "Rosenstein..."

...Or was it the other way around? By the Grower, This was going to be messy.

A RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT SOMEWHERE IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATE_ _ _| SURFACE YEAR 1995_ _ _|

The two children hugged. "I'll miss you." The boy said.

"I'll miss you too, Dai-kun." The girl replied, then pulled out of the hug. "Take care of yourself."

"I will." He smiled to her. "But you should too."

"Yeah!" She nodded, then turned towards the van with her awaiting family. "Ja ne, Dai-kun."

The boy watched sadly as the best friend he ever had from all of his six years walks towards the one thing taking them apart. As she climbed into the vehicle, his vocal cords finally start working again. "Sayonara, Ka-!"

The girl looks towards him and smiles broadly, cutting him off with one last phrase. "Don't be so formal."

With a nod, the boy reprimands himself. "Ja Mata Ne, Ka-Chan!"

A HOSPITAL SOMEWHERE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS_ _ _| SURFACE YEAR 2004_ _ _|

The boy, now several years older, clenches his fists as tears stream down his eyes. "Is...is she...? Are they...?"

The doctor, towering above him, sighs. "The damage to the front end of the vehicle made getting to them a risky venture. Your Sister will recover, but, I'm afraid..."

The boy's eyes widen. "No...They can't be...! They...They just can't...!" his mind races.

"...They're gone."

TAY_ _ _| SURFACE YEAR 1825_ _ _|

There were four most memories on the Linking book. Nothing even related to said book, well, excluding the last one. Why? Yeesha didn't know, and she didn't care.

Why?

Yeesha was running down the hallways, not because she was trying to avoid figuring this out though, no most definitely not that. She was running because one of the two strangers had woken up.

Thoughts were racing through her mind, who was awake? What exactly was the creature? Why did the boy have a book with her name inscribed on it? If it was the boy, maybe she could ask him about why the book had memories that didn't fit with it on it?

When she came to the room where the boy and the creature were staying, she was slightly disappointed. The creature was the one awake, and it was trying to explain something to the Rivenese medic in strange chirping sounds, kind of like a bird.

The medic turns to Yeesha, exasperated. "I've never heard such sounds from a being in all my years, Dear girl!"

Yeesha smiles. "I don't think anyone has." Her eyes drift to the boy, still unconscious. "Well, except maybe him."

At this comment the creature, now that she could see them, turned it's bright blue eyes towards the boy, and started chirping rapidly, along with several rapid nods.

The medic throws his arms up in disgust, then leaves the room. "You take care of it, dear girl! I give up! Let me know when the boy awakens!"

-----

Tomoki tries explaining, once more, to the medic. "He's just fine! Just a concussion! He's not seriously hurt!"

The medic then turns to a young girl standing in the doorway. "I've never heard such sounds from a being in all my years, Dear girl!"

Tomoki's eyes widen at the girl standing in the doorway. She had the same essence of power as the Grower. This couldn't be...

"I don't think anyone has." Her eyes drift to the explorer, still unconscious. "Well, except maybe him."

Tomoki looks over at him suddenly. "Yes! Yes he has!" he nods rapidly. "But he's still sleeping so if you'd be kind enough to-!"

The medic throws his arms up in disgust, then leaves the room. "You take care of it, dear girl! I give up! Let me know when the boy awakens!"

Tomoki looks to the girl- Yeesha- in concern. That explained the similar power signal. "You're Yeesha? You're REALLY the-!?"

Yeesha clamps her hands over her ears. "I Can't understand you!"

Tomoki stops, then slams his right hand-claw into his forehead. "DOH! Of course she doesn't understand!" This was the Yeesha, The Grower, of the distant past. She hadn't even written the RELTO age Yet, let alone learn-- Tomoki stops that train of thought.

Relto.

The little green book that broke all of the D'ni's linking rules. If Yeesha got one good look at the pages inside of that book...

-----

Yeesha clamps her hands over her ears. "I Can't understand you!"

The creature stopped, then slammed its right claw/hand to its forehead. She knew what that meant, all right, even if she couldn't understand what it was saying. Then, it's eyes widen at some thought, panic flooding the once calm blue orbs.

"Hey, hey!" Yeesha starts, trying to get the creature to calm down. "Calm down, everything's going to be all right!"

It shakes it's head "no" as it repeats the same set of chirps over and over.

-----

"It's not going to be all right! It's NOT GOING TO BE ALLRIGHT!" Tomoki exclaims. "I'm BACK IN TIME! I shouldn't even BE here! Let alone TALKING to The Grower of all people!!!"

Yeesha holds her hands out. "Hold on! Hold On!" she reaches inside a pocket, then pulls out her memory amulet. THE Memory amulet. The very item the Grower used to translate the Bahro's set of thought patterns into something legible. "I wanna try something real quick..."

Tomoki's eyes widen. Of Course! He immediately reaches his hands towards the amulet, and screams, as loud as he can: "We're not Supposed to be HERE!"

-----

The creature immediately lunged for the amulet, screaming, loudly. Yeesha's survival instinct told her to dodge, but it was too fast to do so; and as soon as it touched the amulet, there was a flash, and the scream was instantly translated, mid sentence.

"---Supposed to be HERE!"

Yeesha blinks. "Uh...Could you repeat that?"

The creature blinked. "You can understand me now?!" Excitement was laced in it's- or rather, His, now that she could understand it- voice.

"...Yes?" Yeesha replies slowly.

The creature sighs in relief. "I wasn't sure that wasn't going to work. He'd kill me for not thinking things through like that."

"Who would?" Yeesha asks.

"Him." He gestures his head towards the explorer.

"Right..." Yeesha nods. "So what were you trying to say just now?"

Tomoki paled. "uh... Well..."

-----

Oh, Quab in a hat. What was he going to say now? Now that he knew that he could be understood, he wasn't sure if he should try to explain what had exactly happened.

"Something about being here?" Yeesha continues.

"Yeah...Well..."

At that moment, A Rivenese guard and the medic re-enter the room.

"What's going on? Did it attack?!" The guard asks.

Yeesha holds up her hands, pulling the amulet away from him. "No no~! Everything's just fine!"

"But that sound...!" The medic starts.

"He was just trying to get a message across!" Yeesha holds up the amulet. "As soon as he saw this, he knew it would translate what he was saying!"

"If you say so..." The guard, still slightly wary, turns and leaves the room.

"If you don't mind..." The medic takes the amulet from Yeesha, then turns to Tomoki. "Are you all right?" he asks slowly.

Tomoki reaches out and touches the amulet again before talking. "I'm just fine."

The medic frowns in astonishment. "It speaks perfect Rivenese!"

Yeesha blinks in return. "Really? That sounded like English to me."

Tomoki frowns. Strange, he thought, then retracts his claw from the amulet. "Testing, one two three..."

Yeesha smiles. "I hear you just fine."

Tomoki's eyes widen. That shouldn't have happened.

EDDIE COUNTY, NEW MEXICO_ _ _| SURFACE YEAR 2006_ _ _| JUNE_ _ _|

The boy grimaces as he tightens a bolt on the device before him. "Perfect...!"

Just then, a man bursts into the room. "KID! What did I say about touching MY Things?!"

The boy stands to attention. "NOT TO, SIR." Then, with a vague smirk, he adds. "But this is all mine, Sir. Brought with my own money."

The man simmers for a moment, then reaches for a large cylinder, filled with a glowing green substance. "Then WHAT IS THIS?!"

"NO! DON'T--!" The boy is too late, the room fills with a blinding flash of green as the cylinder is ripped from it's casing.

HOUSTON, TEXAS_ _ _| DECEMBER 19th_ _ _|

The boy climbs down off of the bus, and looks warily around.

The Police were nowhere around, thankfully. They seemed to have given up the chase.

Then, a woman spotted him. Him and his cursed red hat. "THERE! THERE'S THE MURDERER!"

The Boy muttered a curse, then ran, Or tried to at least, as several random men ran towards him. His feet seemed rooted to the ground, and the world slowly blurring out from around him. Then, an ear piercing, glass shattering scream ruptures through the air.

RELTO ISLAND_ _ _|

The boy blinked as the world lurched suddenly, from arid county bus stop to mysterious island in the clouds.

He collapsed to the ground, relishing in the different air. The boy runs his fingers through the damp soil.

He was safe. He was secure. He didn't have to run. He was...

TAY_ _ _| SURFACE YEAR 1825_ _ _|

"...Home..."

The sudden intrusion into the room made Tomoki and Yeesha jump. There was no one else in the room except for the unconscious explorer, who wasn't so unconscious any more.

"Hey, he's waking up!" Yeesha takes a quick few steps across the room to check on the explorer's condition. "But what's he...?"

Before Yeesha can finish her sentence, the explorer groans, then slowly opens his eyes. "Could ya keep it down? I just got tossed into a tree for cryin' out loud."

Tomoki leans into the explorer's line of sight and smiles in relief. "Hey there, welcome back to the land of the living, mister time traveler."

The explorer frowns at the name, clearly noticing something amiss. "Since when could you talk?"

"Since he met me!" Yeesha steps into view, a broad grin on her face. "Hi, I'm Yeesha!"

The frown on the explorer's face deepens as his eyes widen. "'Yeesha'?"

Tomoki nods, as his words echo in the explorer's head, "mister time traveler."

"Well..." The explorer groans. "...Quab in a hat..."

AHNONAY EXTERIOR_ _ _| SURFACE YEAR 2007, OCTOBER_ _ _|

The explorer frowns at the giant metal spheres. "You know, I really hate Kadish’s."

The bahro next to him chirps an inquiry. "Why?"

"He was just so...Full of himself." The explorer huffs, swinging his right arm wide. "He hides his personal password to this place, in plain sight; fakery calls himself the grower, with the clues saying he wasn't right in plain sight; gives the solutions to all of his security age's puzzles, in plain sight; and died because he didn't use a linking book, right in plain sight."

Tomoki frowns. "So?"

"He claimed this age is Garternay as it was, is, and would be." The explorer frowns at the spheres. "A genius who went mad. Mister time traveler extraordinaire."

Tomoki nodded in understanding. Time travel was not something to be taken lightly.

There was a pause, and then the explorer laughed. "Hey, Tomoki? If I ever meet a living Kadish, remind me to run him through with something fancy from his vault, could ya?"

END CHAPTER ONE.