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      Jon-Tom came home a week later. He

gave his wife a kiss, but it was cold and distant. He said very little the

entire day. When nighttime came she had hoped for little closeness and was

disappointed by his aloofness. She didn't pester him, understanding that

something terrible had happened. She was learning not to intrude on his

thoughts, just like he preferred not to intrude on others. The only thing he did

was to tell Doteroll that his daughter was safe and to spellsing him back to

his home.

She didn't sleep well that night.

Despite this, she must have dozed for a while, because when the light of

morning came, and with it her change, he was gone. There was no cloak, no

pants, no shirt, no staff and no duar. All he left was note. She could make no

sense of it whatsoever, considering that her experience in this world was

limited. What she read was this.

Dear

Sybeele and to whomever else reads this,

I am so tired.

I have been fighting it for a long time, and just when I think I'm on the

uphill slope, I find myself rolling back down again. I cannot continue on this

way. While there is much that I have done that brings a smile to my face, there

is much that I have done that tears at my heart. I have seen more happiness and

sadness, joy and cruelty, pleasure and pain; and it has filled me up beyond my

capacity to contain anymore. I need to let go. I need a reset button.

Therefore, I am setting out on what I hope is my final crusade. I intend to

wipe out the very reason I was brought over to this world by my old mentor

Clothahump. If I can do that, then I will make up for everything I did since

coming here. It will give me my life back and at the same time, hopefully wipe

out all my memories of the past. You need not wish me well on this quest, but I

wish it to all of you.

Jonathon

Thomas Merriweather.

Eve read it and gasped. "He wouldn't! He

couldn't! It goes against everything he stands for!"

Sybeele was still in need of enlightening.

"What wouldn't he do?"

Eve sat her down. "My dear, what he

intends to do, unless I am gravely mistaken, is to remove the reason for his

purpose in being called over. I had a small part in that, pushing Clothahump's

power to snag him from his own world, the same world that you come from. The

wizard was looking for someone to help him defeat the Plated Folk, which I must

admit is part of the life on my world that has evolved rather poorly."

The girl scratched her head. "But from

what I have heard, removing them would be a good thing, wouldn't it?"

Eve patted her arm. "Yes, I suppose so,

but you fail to see what he is trying to do. If he goes now and wipes them out,

there will be no need for him in the future. If that happens, Clothahump won't

pull him over. If he isn't pulled over, then nothing that he has done will

happen, including getting lost in time and ending up falling to your rescue.

For that matter, he will not be there to rescue me. I'm afraid I over-estimated

his resiliency. He appears to be falling apart. Something recent must have

pushed him over the edge. Any clues as to what that might be?"

"He went to Cottia to save them from

invaders. As far as I know, he was successful. But he refused to discuss it. He

got up in the middle of the night and left with all his gear. I just don't

know!" She broke down in tears.

"Cottia? Cottia had nothing to do with

any of my plans! Why did he go there; to repel invaders you say?"

"Yes. We found a sick and starving

person from that village. Jon-Tom went to investigate. He was gone about a week

before suddenly showing up again. Outside of that, I don't know what happened."

"Then we need to go to Cottia. The

answer must be there. But we won't have much time. Once he fulfills his

mission, everything will snap. The timeline is presently quite fragile after

all of the stress it has taken with his falling through twice now. Alma had no

business in snagging onto my tether. If I could get my hands on her, I'd slap

her silly. If we don't stop him, I have no idea what the full consequences will

be."

Sybeele broke down completely. "Do you

mean that instead of saving me, I'll be exposed to those men who were trying to

kill me?"

"Kill you? I doubt that was on their

mind at the time. Good men are hard to find. Jon-Tom was one of the best, and I

think I abused his good nature. I need to link with him and have a talk." But

try as she might, she could make no contact with him. It was as if he was

already gone from the world.  This wasn't

going to be easy. She knew where he was headed, but not the route. He could

take any number of paths. She had to hope he was heading to Zaryt's Teeth. It

was a logical choice, but not the only one.

Eve put her hand on Sybeele's shoulder.

An instant later they were in Cottia. It was quiet. The silence was made even

more eerie by the spots of dried blood on the paving stones. "We had better

find out who's running this place." Eve directed them to the center of town. It

was a grisly sight. There, stuck to poles, where a variety of ugly looking

animals. A few were alive, but only barely. Sybeele spoke what Eve was

thinking.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

They found the mayor in his office. He

looked surprised to see visitors. "Excuse me ladies, but how did you get into

town? We are on a lockdown until we get our situation straightened out. Or

perhaps you didn't notice the criminals on your way in?"

"We did, and we found it

disturbing!"

"So do we, ladies. If you had any

idea what those bastards did to us, you might find our punishment to be an act

of kindness. There is only one who has escaped this punishment. It was not my

decision. It was another who decided her fate. Her punishment seems unusual to

me, but if it works out to our advantage, then I accept it."

"Her fate? A female? Who is she,

and more importantly, where is she?"

"She's presently helping to repair

some of the property damage caused by our invaders. You can't miss her; she's

the only other human in town besides you two. You relation of hers or

something?"

Eve pondered that for a moment.

"Human? Like the male that was here recently?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that.

He was a strange one, that. He waded in and freed us from the stranglehold

these thugs had on us.  This lady helped

too, though as far as I understand, she had something to do with them taking over.

They were both pretty mum about it. All he would say was that she would live

out her life here helping out the people of Cottia in any way she could. The

man seemed honest, so I didn't question his judgment."

"Jon-Tom! It had to be him. Now who

is this lady?"

The orang made a face. "I didn't

hear the name you just mentioned. He called himself Aiden Drake. Said he was

the mayor of Hobarrow."

Sybeele nodded. "Yes, he is. And

he's also my husband. He's gone missing and we're looking for him. Do you have

any idea what happened here that might have pushed him over the edge?"

Before he could answer, another

voice interrupted. "I might."

The ladies turned to see a lovely

woman with long white hair. "I believe it was me who overwhelmed him. Come with

me and I'll tell you what I know." They found an empty room and occupied three chairs

within. Alma told her story as best as she was able. The other two pelted her

with questions, but none as shrewd as Eve's.

"What happened to all your hatred

and anger?"

"It just melted away. It was as if

the sun was melting ice; I could literally feel it wash away from my soul.

Sometimes I wish he wouldn't have, for the pain of what I have done stands out

in sharp relief now. On top of that, he did one more thing." She lowered her

eyes "He has made me with child."

The other two just gaped at her. It

wasn't as if he wasn't prone to doing things like this, but why, if he intended

to rewrite history, would he have bothered? But that in itself was a clue. If

he reset time, then none of this would ever happen in the manner in which it

did, so he could whatever he wanted with impunity. Ultimately, wiping out the

Plated Folk would go against his morals. Eve knew he still hated them for what

they had one to Talea, but the wholesale slaughter of them without warning

seemed beyond his morals. Yet, if he wiped hem out, it would reset time to before

he was pulled over. He wouldn't remember any of it.

"I think that your hatred and anger

didn't just melt away. I think he absorbed it. His healing ability is greater

than he recognizes. I have seen the depths of his darkness. I even let it loose

once. I can only imagine what he is like now on his inside. At this point, I am

unsure if stopping him would be the right thing to do. But if he does this

thing, I cannot say what the repercussions will be. Whether he wants to believe

it or not, he is an integral part of this world, and undoing what he has accomplished

will likely throw it into ruin. We must find him!"

"I would be happy to come, but he

has forbidden me to leave here. I was thinking that maybe I could talk him out

of it.  We did have some good times

together, even if they were on his world. One day with him here was hardly

enough."

Eve got to thinking. What Alma said

was true enough. He was dwelling now on the bad and the awful. There was plenty

of that. But there was a lot of love, kindness and beauty as well. He needed to

be shown these things. She simply needed a plan as to how to get these concepts

through to him. There was a sudden flash that made her head spin. She wasn't

certain if it was inspiration or the sign of something far worse. Only time

would tell.

Jonathon opened his eyes. The light

was coming into his dorm room from the morning sun. He rubbed his aching orbs,

grinding out the crust that had built up overnight. That had been one hell of a

party.  He could still smell aroma from

the joints he had smoked. He went to sit up and his head went wonky. "Damn!"

He tried again, sitting upright

with difficulty. His whole body felt like he had aged a lifetime overnight. He

tried focusing his eyes. The letters R, U, S, H, stood out from the poster on his

wall. What a great concert that had been! He dug his toes into the old shag

carpeting on the floor. It tickled his feet. With a sigh, he hauled himself up

and headed to the john. He really needed to take a piss!

He mumbled greetings to his fellow

students as he wandered down the hall. He unloaded himself and stopped to look

in the mirror. He stared at the figure staring back. Damn, he thought to

himself. I'm not too bad looking even with bloodshot eyes. I probably should do

something with my hair though. He went back to his quarters to grab his towel

and shampoo. He cleaned himself up, groomed his appearance until he was

satisfied and went back to his room to find some fresh clothes.

Needless to say, he was surprised

when he found his room occupied. It was a she, and she was looking out the window.

"Can I help you?" he asked tentatively

The tall beauty turned and smiled. "Hey

you! I thought the room number you gave me last night was a fake. Your hall

mates assured me you were real enough. You said so many nice things last night

I wanted to see if you were just high, or if you really meant them."

His mind went numb for a moment before

kicking into overdrive. He knew this girl! He couldn't remember the party very

well, but this girl he had seen on campus. He knew her name and he knew her

face. He had it etched in his mind. Her name was Flora. And she was beautiful!

"Uh, I don't remember much about

last night. I got pretty disjointed from my personal reality. If I said

anything to piss you off, I'm sorry."

She smiled in a reassuring way. "Hmmm.

Maybe it was just the drugs. You

spouted such lovely poetry too!"

Oh dear. What had he said? What

kind of fool had he been? "Poetry? I dabble in poetry and song lyrics but I don't

remember reciting any poetry last night."

She pulled out a piece of scrap

paper. "You wrote this last night while I watched."

He took it and read the following.

Your

eyes shine into my soul,

A beacon

to light my way,

You're

the half that makes my whole,

I need

you every day.

On bended

knee I ask you this,

To be

my lifelong mate,

And

live in wedded bliss,

My passions

yours to sate.

He cringed. He could hardly ever get

himself steeled to talk with this girl, and last night he had audaciously proposed

with a poem. The crazy thing was, she was here! In his room!

"Uh, yea I guess I wrote that.

Sorry about that. I mean, I think you're great and everything, but I didn't mean

to propose marriage to you."

She looked him square in the eye. "I

see. So you don't want to marry me?"

He trembled a little. "I'm not

saying that. I just only know you by your looks and that isn't enough."

"So, you don't like my looks?"

He was ready to give up in defeat.

Apparently he could only talk coherently around her when he was drunk or

stoned; preferably both. "Dammit Flora, I like you a lot. I just didn't think you'd

have anything to do with me! You're on the cheerleader squad and I'm just a

loser who has no idea what he wants to be when he finishes college. I think you're

beautiful!"

"That's better! It seems to me that

last night you were looking past my skin. I hope that just wasn't the drugs talking."

He rubbed his eyes again, in part

to make certain she was real. She was still standing there staring at him. "I

did do a lot of drugs last night, but my words were true. It's just hard for me

to say them face to face."

"That's fine with me. Talk is cheap

mister." She was unbuttoning her blouse. He went wide eyed for just a moment.

He had enough sense to close the door to his room. Flora was watching the bulge

grow under his towel. "Well senor, I see you weren't kidding in that category either.

Men usually brag up their goods, but I don't think you did yours justice. She

reached forward and plucked the towel from his hands. "Ooooh, would you look at

that? Grande! Mucho grande! Esto será como montar un caballo!!"

He had no idea what she had just

said, but it sounded liked she was pretty happy. He figured all of the jocks

were better hung than he, but maybe it was all bluff and bravado. As for Flora,

she had her blouse off and was undoing her bra. It was a front clasp. When it

came undone, two of the most perfect tan orbs popped out, topped with brownish pink

nipples. His hard-on got a little harder.

She wiggled out of her jeans and

dropped them on the floor. Her panties were next. She wasted no time in dragging

him down onto his disheveled bed. "Dámelo chico grande!" He wasn't sure what

that meant, but he had an idea, especially when she opened her legs wide and

clamped them over his back. He drilled her hard. She yelped just a tiny bit as

he entered her. "Ahora sé cómo se siente ser la yegua!"

He excitedly pushed it in as far as

it would go. He didn't have the guts to tell her this was his first time. Yet,

in the back of his head, it seemed vaguely familiar. He went at it like a natural.

He pounded away like there was no tomorrow. He didn't even flinch when her

screams of pleasure reached an ear splitting level. Hell, let the other guys

get jealous of him for once. College as finally looking up!