CHAPTER 69
Tarsa's POV
Andro and I watched with interest as the door opened and the Winchester boys emerged. "There they are Andro, let's go get them."
We appeared to them about ten feet in front of them. I gave a small shake of my head, hoping they would get the idea not to let on about the conversation we'd already had. "Greetings, Winchesters, I said."
"Shove your greeting's where the sun don't shine," said the one called Dean. "We may be at your mercy, but we ain't friends." Ah, yes, I thought, this is the one with the mouth. He will be amusing.
"You should know, little Winchester, that your insults have no effect on me or my kind." I said evenly.
"Yeah, and what is your kind?" he asked.
"We are called the Nephirum." I informed them.
"Yeah, well, whatever you're called, what gives you the right to interfere in our lives like this?"
"Nothing gives us that right," I answered.
They looked confused for a moment. Then the other one called Sam spoke. "If you admit you don't have the right, then why are you doing it?"
"For the same reason you are," I said. "We are given no choice in the matter."
"And did you also not have any choice about wearing a couple of humans to come meet us?" Dean demanded hostilely.
That question didn't mean anything to me, so I responded, "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
"Those human meat suits you're wearing, who are they?" Dean said, again accusingly, and pointing our way.
"We are wearing no humans, I assure you. We have the ability to look like anyone we please," I said, briefly taking on the form of Dean himself, and changing back.
"Shapeshifters?" asked Sam.
"Not shapeshifters, merely illusion," I answered. "I assure you, all of your questions will be answered before you begin your journey."
"Well then, let's just get on with it," Dean said. "The sooner we go the sooner we get back home."
"As you wish," I said and indicted to Andro that it was time to take them. We walked over to them and touched their shoulders.
Maria's POV
We all watched the drama going on outside tearfully. All the emotions the girls had held in for the sake of Sam and Dean were breaking free now, and they were full on crying. When they saw the newcomers touch the boys shoulders and watched them all disappear, Garth and I literally had to hold them up to keep them from simply falling onto the floor, sobbing. My heart was breaking for them. We let them cry until they were all cried out, and then we took them to the viewing room and laid them on the couches. I sat with them for a while, waiting for the shock to wear off.
After a while, Katie sat up and said softly, "I'm okay Mom. I'll be fine. Now that I've got that out of my system, I just need to keep busy."
Maggie sat up then too, and said, "You're right, Katie. Sam and Dean would not want us sitting around crying. We need a project."
"Have anything in mind?" asked Katie.
"As a matter of fact, I do. Let's Spring clean the Bat Cave."
"It's summer."
"That's not the point. Since we've been here, no one has given this place a good cleaning. We should do that," said Maggie.
"Well we also should go to home world and settle up with the apartment, pay our bills and move our things out," said Katie. "And maybe it's time to talk to our friends and let them know what's been going on with us.
"So there we go, we have a lot to do actually, and no sitting around moping, the boys wouldn't like it."
"I agree. Let's go make a todo list and a schedule," and off they went. I was so proud of them. I knew how much they were hurting, and how worried they were, but they had decided to swallow their fears and do positive things to get through the waiting time.
I realized that Sam and Dean had been very good for them, had given them a confidence and a sense of self that they never really had before. There was no doubt in my mind that not only did the two couples love each other, but the sisterly and brotherly bonds that existed between the siblings had created an unbeatable foursome. I really had to marvel at the turn of fate that had somehow brought them all together.
I got up and found the girls bent over a table In the study making a list. "Girls," I said. "If you are really going to be all right, then I should get on home. You can always get me if you need me, and you know you are always welcome to stay at the house if you need to get away."
"We know Mom, but we want to stay here," said Katie. "But we can go ahead and take you home, whenever you're ready."
Dean's POV
The guy touched my shoulder and all of a sudden I felt like a chuck steak going through a meat grinder. My head was spinning and my legs were shaky, my stomach was trying to get rid of breakfast, and I thought I was suffocating. As soon as I could breathe again I said, "Son-of-a-bitch! What the fuck was that?" When my eyes focused again I found I was holding onto a railing along a wall to keep from falling down. Sammy was right next to me, gasping for breath as well.
"Apologies for the ride," someone was saying. "It's a pretty rough trip travelling through dimensions. As soon as you feel stable enough, please have a seat."
I looked around us, and discovered we were in a strangely shaped room, with two curved walls and two straight, but not parallel walls. The longest curved wall was lined with windows that looked out on a jet black night covered in stars, and… what the fuck, was that two moons? "Where the hell are we?" I asked.
"Please do sit down and all your questions will be answered," said someone I now recognized as the guy named Tarsa. Sam and I made our way shakily to a couple of chairs opposite Tarsa. On each side of him were several large areas of very bright light, too bright to look directly at.
"This will go so much more quickly if you will just allow me to talk. Then you can ask your questions afterwards," he said.
"I understand you may have already managed to gather some information about us and about what is happening here. But I will go over it from the beginning because I am required to, and in order to assure the information you have is correct. Before we begin though, are you starting to feel better? I know how badly one is affected by interdimensional travel when one is corporeal."
"Not really, but please do continue," I said.
Sammy didn't look much better than I felt. He was bending over and holding his stomach. "We'll be fine, just talk," he said.
"Very well. The events unfolding now were set in motion many thousands of your years ago. Your coming has been foretold, and we have watched anxiously as all the necessary factors have been unfolding over the last hundred or so of your years. You are here to fulfill a prophecy."
"Yeah, well, if you've been watching us as closely as you say, you'd know that we don't always live up to expectations when It comes to prophecies," I said, still having some trouble talking.
"We are aware," he answered calmly. "Nevertheless, we must continue to move toward fulfilment."
"As I have previously mentioned, we are known as the Nephirum. For easier comprehension, you may think of us as beings somewhat like your Angels. But we are much stronger, we are much more powerful, and we have many more capabilities than your Angels."
"Does that mean you're even bigger Dicks?" I said.
Tarsa smiled. "Some of us very well may be," he said, evenly. "But you will find that I am not."
"Dean," said Sam, "let the man… angel… whatever… speak."
"Fine," I said.
"Our Creator, a being such as you like to call God, has had something stolen from him, something he very much wishes to get back. That's why you were brought here."
He looked at us significantly. "These very bright lights you see here with me are my siblings, in our pure essence form. While they have not taken a form that allows them to communicate with you verbally, they do know enough of your language to understand what's being said. We Nephirum are a suspicious species, and are very rarely left alone."
Sam and I glanced at each other. I think we both understood what Tarsa was trying to say. This really was cloak and dagger stuff.
"So as I was saying, your purpose in being brought here is to track down that which was stolen and return it. Those who stole it set up specific conditions under which that can be achieved. Therefore it is imperative that you understand these conditions thoroughly."
"You're talking about the…" I started to say, but Tarsa shook his head ever so lightly.
"Yes, he interrupted, I am speaking of the specific steps that must be taken to ensure the return of the… artifact."
"Please go on," Sam said, as politely and graciously as he always does.
"First, are you feeling better now?" He really did seem genuinely concerned about how we were doing. "We have prepared some food for you from your own world. You should eat, as once you get to the surface, you will have to learn to eat the food of the surfacers."
"Surfacers?" I asked. "So this, where we are right now, is really what it looks like? We are up in space?"
"You may think of it as such yes," said Tarsa, and he clapped his hands. A few minutes later a being in human form brought in two plates with hamburgers on them..
"Good choice," I said. "But I don't think I can eat anything at the moment."
"Whenever you wish," Tarsa said graciously.
"Now, then," he continued. "This is what you must know. There are a series of eight journeys, each one to recover a certain small item, that will look something like this…" He held up a small, mostly heart-shaped item made of glass or crystal. "Once you have all eight of them, you will have to undertake a final journey to the crypt where the artifact has lain for many centuries."
"These journeys may or may not be difficult for you. All we know is the starting place for each one. You will need to find them on your own. But you must always beware, as there are many dangerous creatures on the surface."
"We Nephirum are under certain constraints as to how much we can help you and what type of help we may give. For instance, we may only heal you of injuries after you recover each crystal. If you need healing while en route, you will have to find it on your own."
"We will need to cloak you in illusion so you can pass for a surfacer, and we will embed the surfacer language into your heads."
"You're gonna do what now?" I asked.
"Don't worry, it's painless. It's just an instant way of learning a language," he said.
"Awesome," said Sam. "Could you teach us Italian while you're at it?"
"Unfortunately, we do not know that language," Tarsa answered.
"Aw, darn," I said, snapping my fingers. "So you're going to make us look different and teach us the local language," I said. "So then what?"
"While we can't know for sure, we think that each journey will be able to be done in one surface day. Our surface days are a bit shorter than yours, actually about 20 of your hours. Eight family lines have been entrusted to be the keepers of the crystals. We have the names of the eight, and the place where you are to start each journey. That is all the information we have."
"Once we port you to a starting place you are on your own until a crystal is found. At that point, we may intervene to feed you, heal you and allow you rest."
"Each of my siblings here has something to teach you. They will do so through mind implants. Besides the surface language, you will learn of the flora and fauna of the surface, how the city pods operate, how you should behave in order to blend in, the level of civilization and technology that exists, which, by the way is quite primitive compared to your own."
"None of this will hurt you. In fact you will be placed in a semi-conscious state during the transfers, and you will feel refreshed and strong when they are finished. We are giving you all the help we can possibly give. Do you understand?"
We both said yes, because we didn't think we had a choice. But I wasn't too keen on having information just shoved into my head.
It took several hours for all five of them to impart all this information to both of us. But Tarsa had been right, we didn't feel a thing, as the essences surrounded us, one by one. When they were through, we knew as much about this place as if we were natives. Thinking of something brought up thoughts that seemed quite as real as memories. I was beginning to have a much better outlook on the situation.
After all five of the bright light essences had departed, Tarsa leaned close to us and said, "Listen closely, we will not be alone for very long. You have obviously been in touch with Falcarian, and he has told you how to thwart the release of the energy in the artifact. We need you to go one step further and actually destroy it. Please. We live under terrible conditions, even up here, and it's worse for the surfacers. Please help us."
"How do we do that?" asked Sam.
"We will get that information to you along the way as we can, just watch for it." He sat back in his seat then, as one of the light creatures entered the room, and said, "Well then, do either of you have any questions?"
We watched as the light glided over to Tarsa and they seemed to be having a silent conversation. When the light backed away, Tarsa was left with a box on his lap. "Oh yes," he said, "I had almost forgotten to do a very important thing here, do forgive me." He opened the box and unwrapped a cloth from around what was lying in it. I stared at the contents in fascination, for laying inside it were the demon blade and the First Blade that they had taken from the bunker. "I need to return these weapons to you," he said, completely matter-of-factly, as though he were handing us a teaspoon for our coffee.
The minute I laid eyes on that blade the mark on my arm burned like a branding iron. I felt the blood lust rush through my body like wild fire, and the urge to kill caught me up in it's spell once more. I felt my arm tremble as I reached out to pick up the blade.
Sam suddenly reached out, rewrapped the blades in the cloth, snapped the box closed and picked it up himself. He was staring at me with widened eyes. "I'll hold onto this," he said, "until a time when we actually need it.
THANK YOU for reading. As usual, I would love to hear your comments.