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Chapter 1: The Mysterious Tome

He glanced at his watch. 9:22 a.m. It had been 10 hours since he first tried to get some sleep, but the low howling of the engines and the elbow of his friend next to him prevented any slumber. Many times he tried to wake Allen up to remove his kidney-stabber to no avail. He finally abandoned his fruitless pursuit and made his way to the bathroom. Jack Nailor stood before the mirror and analyzed his sad image. His dark black hair hung straight just above his shoulders and was parted down the middle, disheveled. The bags under his blue, cracked eyes made apparent the lack of sleep suffered. He yawned and turned on the cold water. After splashing a few handfuls of the icy liquid in his face, he returned to his aisle.

"Allen," Jack whispered. No answer.

"Allen." A bit louder. No answer.

"Allen!" he finally screamed, not caring anymore about the people on either side of his row, still asleep. The red-haired young man snorted out of his slumber,

"Hmm?"

"Move your damn elbow!" Jack demanded.

"Jeez," Allen yawned, "what's up your ass?"

"Your elbow!"

Jack had at last been able to sit in a comfortable position, and after turning the air nozzle to low, fell fast asleep.

"...eats to their full upright positions, and once again thank you for flyi..." Jack woke up to the sound of movement and muttering. As the airplane began its decent, he stretched and looked over Allen's shoulder, peering out of the window.

"This is gonna be fuckin' sweet!" Allen cried, wiping the sleep from his eyes, "I can't believe we're in fuckin' Scotland!" Allen always profaned when excited, to exceeding levels. However, Jack could feel the excitement building within him as well. Long he dreamed of walking the green hills and admiring the centuries old castles built by people who could very well have been his own ancestors. He had, as a young boy, always fantasized of being a knight-errant during the middle ages, roaming from kingdom to kingdom and helping to preserve the peace of the people. Now, at last, here he was in Scotland for a college history class field trip. The passengers wearily but excitedly filed out of the plane. Jack hurriedly reached into the front compartment of his suitcase and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, but as he placed one in his mouth and reached for his lighter, he heard the high-pitched screech of their bus pull up. He sighed, placed the cigarette back into the package, and got on. After boarding the bus, Jack took the opportunity to get more sleep, for the distance to Dirleton, East Lothian from Edinburgh Airport assured a long trip.

After getting a fitful nap, Jack awoke to Allen, mid-profanity-laden-sentence, pointing to a road sign which read, "DIRLETON" The bus pulled into the hotel parking lot and the students filed out clutching their suitcases and bags. The professor called out something, but Jack was too excited to listen. He found his room, threw his belongings on the floor next to his bed, and read one of the several pamphlets (about the attractions in Dirleton and nearby cities and villages) he had snatched in the lobby. As he grabbed the next booklet, in walked Allen.

"Dude," Allen said, placing his duffel bag on the foot of his bed, "Vicky wants your nuts!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jack said, looking up from the leaflet.

"Vicky McHale! I just walked pass her and Patricia's room. Their door was open and I heard Vicky saying she thought you were cute! She wants your man-gravy, dude!"

"Hey, I can't help it if I'm such a stud." Jack said, trying to sound trendy but was ultimately repulsed by the vulgarity of Allen's words. Jack had always adopted Allen's mannerisms when around him just to fit in, but Jack found that he himself was a completely different person around Allen.

"Man, when are we gonna get this shit on the road?" Allen said, looking out into the hallway for the professor.

"I don't know," Jack said, looking out the window, "but, I can't wait."

Jack's feet thumped impatiently. The castle slowly grew from a splotch on the horizon to a large looming fortress as the bus drew nearer. When it at last came to a stop, Jack was already halfway out the door. There he stood on the enormous drawbridge in front of the citadel, its ruined sight yet beautiful aura dominated the green countryside.

"Alright," the professor began, "if you will all follow the guide, he will begin the tour."

Later, as the tour guide explained the history of the fortress in barely discernable English, Jack lagged behind, admiring the ambiance and rustic beauty of the castle walls. Many times he had found himself lost in awe by the fort's splendor, beckoned back by Allen to hurry and rejoin the class. Later, Jack rejoined the group in a far rear chamber where the guide was nearing the end of his speech:

"...place where it is believed the ghost of an old druid warlock haunts. Now, let us move on to the..." but something caught Jack's attention, and he once again broke formation.

A strange sensation overwhelmed him as he stood alone in the room. He found himself inexplicably drawn towards an unseen force, beckoning him ever closer. But as he paced, his foot kicked a rocky protrusion from the ground and he tumbled against the wall with such force, that the centuries old stone crumbled away. He reached out with his arms to brace himself, but there was no ground on the other side of the wall. And as Jack fell into the dark abyss, he could see that the wall, which he had just fallen through, was then sealed with tumbled stones.

When Jack came to, he found himself surrounded by darkness, lying on a cold stone floor. He swore that he had just fallen from a great distance, but he felt no pain anywhere on his body.

"Hello!" Jack cried, "Anyone!?...Hello!...Help!" but there was no answer save for the echoes of his own words. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his lighter. His heart sank. Upon lighting it, Jack found that he was in a small four-sided chamber with no exits.

"Please somebody help me!" Jack desperately screamed. There has to be an escape, Jack thought, no one would build a place that they couldn't get out of. He thoroughly searched every inch of the first three walls, but when he came to the fourth, Jack notice something he did not before. Protruding from the wall was a stone pedestal on which was an old book overgrown with cobwebs. The book was very thick and had a dark blue cover with a strange golden symbol embossed upon it. Jack cleared off the dusty webs and opened the mysterious tome. As he drew the lighter nearer, Jack could see that the pages were old and worn. On them were many strange symbols and writing that Jack had never seen before. The fact that there was a book so meticulously placed on a carved stone pedestal in this bleak chamber raised his spirits. Someone must have placed this book here, Jack thought, which means there must be an exit! However, when Jack tried to look away, he grew faint and weak. From his partly open eyes, Jack could see the mysterious letters and emblems on the book glow and start to swirl. From all around him the faint glow of glyphs upon the walls appeared, similar to the ones in the tome. Jack stumbled backwards, holding his head. The air around him grew warm as the glyphs seemed to rise off the walls and spin around him. Suddenly the glyphs stopped abruptly, grew brighter, and the sound of a thunderclap filled his head as he slowly faded into unconsciousness.

It was hot. His skin felt afire as he merged into consciousness. Jack coughed as he inhaled something from the grainy ground. Slowly his eyes began to open into blinding light. He rubbed his eyes and blinked, letting them gently adjust to the brightness. Faint dreamlike memories of castles, dark chambers and old books filled his spinning head. An overwhelming sensation of confusion and fear grasped his heart as he scanned the landscape, for Jack found himself sitting on a dune in a windswept desert. The hot dry wind blew grains of sand into his puzzled face.

"What the hell!?" he exclaimed, standing up. The hot sun barely penetrated the vigorously moving clouds like dust kicked up from a marauding desert army. The strong wind pushed against him as he screamed in vain for an answer from the gods. Inspecting his surroundings once more, Jack spotted the gold embossed tome some paces away, untouched by the violent wind. As he picked it up, Jack noticed that the book still looked aged, but when he opened it, the once indecipherable symbols were now in plain English. He tried to read a few words, but the wind prevented the pages from lying straight. However, Jack deserted his wasted attempt and again searched around for an answer as to how he came to be standing in a desert with a language-changing book. He placed the manuscript under his arm and began to walk forward. For countless hours, Jack trudged through the fine sand, hoping upon hope to stumble upon any sign of civilization or water. His heart sank each time he summited another dune to find sand stretching from all directions to the horizons. As the day and distance grew on, Jack soon began to feel a pressure build in his head, and as he slipped into vertigo, the headache grew in severity, until his joints grew weak and he could no longer stand. Succumbing to heatstroke, Jack once again fell into unconsciousness.

"Oh my," a gentle female voice rose over the howling wind. The voice pulled Jack back to consciousness, but his weak state prevented him from opening his eyes. The sound of sandy footsteps became louder as the woman came closer to Jack. He felt himself being turned over, then a soft hand stroked his brow. "The poor thing," the woman's voice sympathetically murmured. Jack struggled to make a sound, but his throat was like stone, creating a high pitched, "...elp.". He mustered his strength to open his eyes if only slightly, however, Jack could only see a blur of dark grey and red silhouetted by the intense sunlight. "Oh!" the woman cried with a start, "well...that's good." Jack heard the woman rise and walk away, the sounds of rummaging, and the woman approaching again. He felt a hand lift his head and something flat and round touch his lips. Suddenly, the blissful feeling of ice cold water coursed down his parched throat and into his waiting stomach. With the cool watery delight hydrating him once more, Jack could feel his energy returning, the swirling darkness ceased, and he opened his eyes to see the face of a panther staring back at him.

Jack screamed and tried leaping to his feet, but his legs were still a bit weak and he tripped. As he scuttled backwards, the panther looked him over, startled. When he finally ceased his screaming, Jack could not help but notice the strange appearance of this "panther". It stood upright on two legs. Its body and stance was portioned with that of a human, but its face resembled a cat. Its body was covered with a dark grey fur, but it had fiery red hair atop its head and even eyebrows of scarlet. She (Jack now knew it was female for the creature had breasts and a petite frame) wore a short robe of crimson that wrapped around her upper torso with a matching short skirt out of which swung a long tail, golden arm bands, and thin leather sandals laced with gold. From out of her red hair, stuck her large feline ears, one of which was pierced with a golden ring. Through her red bangs, two piercing yellow eyes curiously examined Jack.

"What the hell are you!" Jack cried in horror.

"Come now," the feline said with a disappointed look, "is that any way to greet the person who just saved your life?"

"Wha...where am I, where-where is this!?"

"You're on the outskirts of Felinia."

"Felinia?"

"Humph. For a stranger lying in the middle of the desert," the cat began, folding her arms, her tail swaying impatiently, " you certainly have a lot of questions. Don't you remember who you are? Where you come from?"

"I-" Jack started, his mind racing with hundreds of questions, "I am Jack Nailor. I am from America. I was-"

"Uh-mare-ick-uh?" she interrupted, "I've never heard of that place. Is it on Mammalia?"

"Muh-mall-ee-uh?" Jack queried.

"Well, yeah, the continent you are on now."

"There is no continent on Earth named Mammalia!"

"What's Earth now?"

"The planet you are on now-" Jack felt his stomach rise into his throat. Could it be that he was no longer on Earth? The thought once again made his head swirl.

"No, the planet is called 'Metazoa'. Has the heat melted your brain, Mr. Jack?"

As the words left the creatures lips, Jack was overcome with mixed emotions of anger, confusion, and fear until his brain overloaded, and he fainted once more.

Jack felt a soft mattress under him as he opened his eyes. A white canopy was draped over the bed, through which he could see flickering yellow light. He raised to his feet and looked around. The drapes danced in the warm gentle evening breeze. Jack suddenly realized he was in a large stone room beautifully etched with what looked like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Indeed the room had an Egyptian feel, as the pillars within the room were painted with horizontal stripes of royal blue and gold. As Jack neared the balcony, a majestic sight slowly revealed itself. Giant stone temples with steep slopes, ornate buildings of adobe, and colossal pyramids stretched out as far as his eyes could see. For a moment Jack stood there in awe of the grand spectacle, but soon the feeling of dread once again crept into his mind. He turned back into the chamber to investigate more. However, as he passed a stone table, he suddenly stopped for there on the expertly crafted desk lay the book. The memory of the desert flashed into his mind, and he quickly snatched it up. Jack opened the book and read. As he scanned the pages, Jack learned that the book was a journal kept by someone who had signed the entries as "Sapion":

Day 1 - Quintilus 22nd, 1143

I begin my journal with the hopes of learning from my mistakes as an apprentice. My hope is to open the gate to Paradise to which my master keeps referring. He has told me that in order to do so, I must find the Zeux Stone, the very source of Earth's magic, lost centuries ago, known now only as a legend. To do so, I must prepare for the arduous journey across the world. I shall begin my quest here in England, searching through many ancient texts and scrolls that tell of a magical stone. If my efforts are fruitless, I shall make my way east to the Holy Land were I shall be escorted to Jerusalem by the Knights Templar. From there, I shall view the Holy Records in hopes of finding mention of the Zeux stone. I can only hope that I prove myself worthy of being a powerful mage by completing this pursuit.

Sapion

Jack flipped further into the book until he came across a drawing of a oval rock with strange writing on it. Next to the drawing was a passage scrawled with a hurried hand.

...Day unknown, date unknown

I have found it! I found the Zeux stone! My journey took me to...

As Jack read the words, the sound of footsteps grew from outside the chamber door. Quickly, Jack threw the book under the bed and turned to see the door open. In stepped another tall obviously female cat creature, also portioned to a human. She wore a white hood connected to a white cloth that was wrapped around her chest. Her fur resembled a light gray tabby. The cat-woman's abdomen was bare, and Jack could see that, like a normal house cat, her belly was not covered by fur, but was bald, revealing her white skin. She wore a long white skirt which covered her pelvic area, but left her legs naked, which revealed that her tail was wrapped around her muscular thigh and she wore golden sandals. She carried a long spear and glowered at Jack as if she held some resentment towards him. Seeing the spear, he guessed that this woman was a guard. After a long, nervous silence, Jack spoke.

"Wh...Who are you?"

The cat-woman grimaced, baring her sharp white teeth, but spoke nothing.

With his peripheral vision, Jack scoped the room for something to use as a weapon against this silent threat, but before he could lunge towards a long candelabra, he heard a familiar voice...

"Mr. Jack?!" the voice cried. From behind the white-clad guard stepped the fiery-red-haired girl who saved him in the desert, carrying in her paws white linens. "Mr. Jack! You must come with us!"

"What?" Jack queried, "Why? Where are we going?"

"He certainly has a lot of questions," snarled the guard, gripping the spear tighter. "Layla," the guard spoke to the red-haired cat-woman, "dress him appropriately, Queen Bastella awaits Her Guest."

"Yes, Helga." she answered. As Layla approached, Helga shot one more angry look towards Jack and left the room.

"Here you are, Mr. Jack," Layla smiled, handing Jack the white garments, "you are to wear these."

"Wait," Jack demanded, throwing the clothes on the desk, "what the hell's going on here!? Where am I?"

"My, my. The heat was more harmful than I thought. You really don't remember anything I-"

"Yes," Jack interrupted, "Felinia, or something, but HOW did I get here!?"

"I'm afraid you are the only one who can answer that, Mr. Jack."

Jack sighed, realizing the uselessness of the situation. He uneasily ran his hands through his hair and turned away, hopeless.

"Look, Mr. Jack," Layla said sternly.

"Please," Jack interjected, his back still to her, "just Jack."

"Look, Jack, I will be more than happy to help you find the answers to your questions, but you mustn't keep Queen Bastella waiting!" Jack, unmoving, stood in silence staring out the balcony. Suddenly, he felt Layla's hands lift his shirt from behind.

"Hey!" Jack cried through the shirt now covering his head, "What are you doing!?"

"Well if you won't dress yourself, I'll have to do it!" Before Jack could free his head from his shirt, he felt Layla unbutton his pants. As he reached to stop her, Layla pulled his pants and boxers down, and stood naked.

"Oh!" Layla cried, surprised, "oh my...what a big-"

"What the hell's wrong with you!?" Jack exclaimed, pulling his pants up, "I can dress myself!" Layla stood silent for a moment, her mouth agape, and then finally snapped out of it. "Well," she said at last, "hurry up."