//------------------------------// // 2: Phase Gearing // Story: Infinity's Edge (Beta) // by Caldoric //------------------------------// About three seconds later, seven guards burst into the Hall through various entrances, both conventional and concealed, and armed to the teeth. I raised my hands in a submissive manner, indicating I was unarmed and friendly. "Who goes there? What are you doing here at this time of night?" One of the unicorn guards, (presumably the senior officer of this watch, judging by his armor,) asked of me, holding a spearpoint to my throat by way of magic. The effect, however, was ruined by the fact that (had I been standing,) he would have come up to, what, my hips? My lower abdomen, tops. "Parleleley," I slurred, slightly concussed, and furrowed my brows. I tried a few more times, with less success: "parlelellyleloooo... Par le nee... Partner, par...snip? Parsley? Parliament..." All that got me was some very weird looks all round... Until a small, slightly nerdy-lookin' fellow towards the back of the group got an "oh, I get it!" look, and raised a hoof the way a human would hold up a questioning finger. "Parley?" He suggested, helpfully. My eyebrows skyrocketed. I propped myself up on one elbow and pointed an enthusiastic finger in his direction. "That's it!" I exclaimed, "That's the one. Parley." I spread my arms wide. "Parley!" "Parley?!" Growled one of the more intimidating (and slightly aquatic,) looking guards. "Blast to the depths whatever pony what thought of 'parley'!" "That'd be the French," I said, holding up a finger as I laid back down in the debris, with warm tea beginning to wick through my scale mail under-armor. "What happened here? And who is he?" These were leveled at the princesses by the first guard that had spoken, (whom I had mentally dubbed "Commander Vimes,") seeing that I was obviously going to be of no help in the matter. Luna went to speak, but was beaten to the punch by her sister. "Oh, it was merely a sparring match that got out of hand, nothing more than a slip-up." Luna gave her an intense look at the blatant lie, as Celestia continued. "He is a local Glatorian I hired, for the purpose of keeping us on our toes by 'attacking' at random times of the day or night, attempting to 'assassinate' one or both of us. He's only just started tonight." One of the guards quirked an eyebrow at that. "Are you sure that that's such a good idea, ma'am?" She said. "I mean, we ARE in the middle of a cold war with the GCA. If they were to catch word that you two had been injured or killed, they'd not hesitate to swoop down and rain destruction on our planet and many others?" It was dead quiet for a moment, in which time I took the opportunity to act a little loopy, in case they weren't convinced. "We jumped outta window!" I said, slightly slurring, and allowing my eyes to unfocus, for added effect. "Shhhh!" Luna growled to me. I put a finger to my lips, and spoke again in something akin to a stage whisper "We jumped out a window!" Then I let my arm drop heavily. "As I was going to say," continued Celestia, "that is EXACTLY the reason for it! And need I remind you, Lance-Constable, that it is not your place to question what we do in our free time, or how we choose to enjoy it? I do appreciate your enthusiasm on the matter, but there is such a thing as being overzealous. On another note, none of you are to ever speak to anyone of this, or let it get out in any other way. And, no, I don't want to see any paperwork on it either." This last was just after the nerdy-lookin one's hoof shot into the air, like a child with a question at school. "This occurrence does not leave this room. That is all." With that, the guards left the room via the front door. I waited a few seconds before speaking. "That was a tad... harsh, for someone who's supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows, all the time." "Well, as the Lance-Constable said, there's a war on. Just a bit." I folded my arms, looking her dead in the eyes as I did so. "Pull the other one, it's got bells on." Then I smiled. "Cross one off my bucket list, I've been looking for an excuse to use that phrase for years now. As long as I'm here, my name's Caldoric, and I'm already certain of who you are." "Thee should be grateful to my sister that she hath saved your flank," said Luna, sharply. I bristled a bit at that. I'd heard that she occasionally spoke in a faux "Olde Englishe Mannere," but this was ridiculous. And her use of the word "flank" rubbed me the wrong way, just a little. "By rights, we should have had thee thrown in the dungeon for appearing as you did in our home." "Calm down, sister. You're just upset because he landed on your favorite tea set. Kindly refrain from antagonizing our guest," said Celestia, calmly. I took the opportunity to get up and brush myself off, before facing them both with my hands clasped behind my back as she continued speaking. "If you'd look closely at him, you would find he's no mere Glatorian, nor is he a newly ascended Neu-Toa." "A WHAT Toa?" I asked incredulously, looking at Celestia, as Luna walked up to give me a more thorough once-over. I leaned away a little as she raised a hoof towards my mask, trying to lift it up I suppose. I wasn't sure why she didn't use her horn, which was slightly above my eye level, but I was glad she didn't, since it was a long, sharp object. Not good around the eyes. I finally let her lift the mask, and she gasped in surprise. "A human?" She asked, incredulously, as she backed off a couple steps. She then put a hoof to her chin in a contemplative manner. "But... The last one to arrive was a couple YEARS ago! I didn't think there would be another!" "Yes, Luna," said Celestia, a sly look playing across her face, "I also made that assumption, which I maintained until a few days ago, when he arrives by way of an unstable portal." "Wait, you noticed that?" I asked, a little scared now. She nodded. "Well, so much for nobody knowing I was here!" "As a matter of fact," she said, "although I could sense the injection of your presence into the Everfree Forest, I couldn't track your exact location, which intrigued me. That being said, I can feel you right now, which is all the more unusual. I would have alerted my brother, Nova, of this in the morning and sent him to find you. But then you saved us the trouble." "Lucky me..." I said, processing just how much of a close shave I'd just had. "And, just for the record, it wasn't my decision to just drop in on your little conference." I sighed, and decided to tell them my story, leaving out the encounter with Makuta. I then pulled off the helmet, and both of them raised their eyebrows when my long, dirty-blonde hair tumbled out. It was in a decent-sized braid that reached most of the way down my back, tied off at both ends, with a black elastic hair tie at the bottom, and a slightly lighter blonde one at the base of my skull. What I found strange was the fact that woven amongst the strands of hair were lengths of what seemed to be copper wire, though I knew they had to be something else, based on how flexible and durable they were for their thin diameter. Same thing with my facial hair. And then there was the rest of my face. It was now covered in strange green and black circuitry-looking lines, all angled corners and ending in small empty circles. All of this had shown up after I'd woken up that first morning, which seemed a long time ago, now. "I'm not proud, or even happy, about the dragoness, and I'm not even going to sully her memory by trying to excuse or justify what happened," I said, then decided to backtrack the conversation a bit. "Anyways, you mentioned something about 'Neue' Toa? Are they German or something?" The two sisters looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to me. "Thee speaks Germane?" She asked. My eyes narrowed for a moment, and I took a moment to murmur something unflattering about horse puns before answering. "Ein bischen," I said, holding up a hand, with index finger and thumb about an inch apart. "Aber, es heißt 'German' wo ich komme sind. I'm a bit rusty, though, as you can tell, since I probably didn't conjugate it properly." "Yes," said Luna, "thee should have said 'wo ich herkomme,' but it was close enough. And we are well aware of what thy world's equivalent names for the language are." "I'll remember that, thanks..." I said, feeling a tad embarrassed. "In answer to your question," said Celestia, "no, they are not all 'German.' My brother, Nova, hailed from Scunthorpe, in Great Britain." "Aaand... How exactly does a member of Equestrian royalty claim an Earth city as a birthplace? Let alone become a Toa... I mean, if one of your folk was born on Earth, it would have been all over the news." "That is because," continued Celestia, "he was born human, to human parents, who raised him until he was transported here." I had to parse that for a second. "Ok, then, how did he become royalty HERE? And how is he your brother, too? Like, is it just in name, or...?" "Our mother, Fantasia, who is a most powerful goddess, interfered at his conception," said Luna. "If not for her, he would never have existed." I hummed for a second, before I said, "Must have been one helluva three-way then." Next second, Luna's wings suddenly shot out, stiff as a board, with a feathery "floomph!" Celestia's seemed to be trying to do the same. Both of them blushed. "Did I... Did I say something offensive? Or do I even want to know?" Nowadays, I know exactly what that meant, but back then, I had NO clue. Honestly. "Nothing, it's nothing," said Luna, struggling to get her wings under control once more. "Anyway," continued Celestia, "our mother wasn't there at that point in time. She was here, on Terra-1. She used her magic to... Ah... ensure his existence. As to how he is allowed to lay claim to royalty, because of Fantasia's actions, Nova's DNA is 90% alicorn." I smiled. "Ok, now you got that song stuck in my head." Seeing their looks of confusion, I elaborated. "You said 90% alicorn DNA. That leaves ten percent unaccounted for. And there's this one song on earth whose chorus goes like this: 'ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, fifteen percent concentrated power of will. Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain, 100% reason to remember the name.' So, now you get it." Celestia shook her head, chuckling slightly. "Yes, I'm familiar with that piece of music. The other ten percent is human, like several others of the Neue-Toa. They are... Different from the Toa you may be familiar with. And please, if you run into Nova at any time, don't tell him I told you about his heritage. Nowadays, he'd rather forget he ever was human at all, after the Battle of London." "I'm sorry, London?" I asked. "You've got a city named London here in Equestria?" "No, no," said Luna, shaking her head. "Thee are most mistaken. There is no London on this world. It happened on thy own homeworld last year, which is called Earth-1 now, ever since the Convergence a few years ago." They both started looking at me funny, probably because of my evident confusion. "Thee should know this already, should thee not?" "Um, no? I'm pretty sure there's not been any attack on London in recent memory... The closest thing to that was the ISIS bombing in Paris last year." "Um, Caldoric," said Celestia, "that... wasn't LAST year. That was SEVERAL years ago. It's currently the human calendar year of 2021." My knees nearly gave out after a moment of stunned silence, and I had to stagger over to the nearest wall for support. "Holy fuck..." I muttered, sliding down until I was sitting, hunched over, with my hands over my face. "I'm so sorry, Caldoric," said Celestia. "If you want, we have something that might help..." "No," I said, frozen. "It wouldn't work. If I were to go back, I would have prior knowledge of future events, and that very fact would change said events, thus altering the timeline, nullifying this one. I have to stay in the present point in time. *sigh* It figures that the Olmak would shift me in time as well as space. They're both dimensions in their own rights. Just my luck... Maybe I'll go back in the present day? Heh, what a surprise. Hey guys, I'm not dead, I was just kicked across time and space to another world! It's only been a few days for me! LOL!" "Methinks he has cracked under his predicament," suggested Luna. "Maybe, maybe not. I'd have to say I'm probably in shock," I replied. "Give me a while, I'll get used to it." I sat there for a moment, hugging my knees and thinking. "On a different topic, how many other Toa are there around here?" "Last time we checked," replied Celestia, sensitive to my fragile state, "several thousand." "What-- how? Spherus Magna isn't part of this reality... Is it?" "Did we not tell you? They are the original inhabitants of this world, formerly known by that name. A few years ago, we discovered them far to the south, and they have since incorporated themselves into our society, to a degree. After that, a spell was put into development that would allow travel between dimensions, so Nova and the other humans could return home, but before it was finished, a member of the Second Brotherhood of Makuta stole a copy, and when it was cast, it merged several universes into one, including ours, and yours." "Wait, really?" I asked, a glimmer of hope appearing on my horizons, a silver lining to the clouds in the sky. "That means... I can go home, at least. But, as long as I'm stuck here like this, and there's a war going on like you say there is, I'd better get some sort of combat training. Any recommendations?" "Thy attitude has turned around rather quickly, it seems!" said Luna, evidently impressed. "Most of the other humans we've met tended to have longer moody streaks over less portentous subjects than this." "Oh, trust me, I'm still in 'a right old state' about it, as you'd probably say, but I am feeling marginally better, now that I know I might get to meet some of the original Bionicle characters. Anyways, Cel," I said, turning to Celestia, "recommendations for combat training. Got any?" "Well," she said, looking up in thought, "my first thought would have been for you to seek out one of the Neue-Toa, such as Nova's brother, Minion, Toa of Magnetism and weapons specialist, or maybe Vapaa, Toa of Light and user of many martial art forms." "Wait, hold up. Two things. First: ANOTHER Toa of Light? And second: no, thanks, I'd rather not be suddenly thrust into a group of strangers, until I can defend myself. Besides, they'll probably freak out about my unprecedented arrival, and start asking questions. Not to mention, since they're part of Nova's team, they're probably high-profile targets right now, and possibly quite busy." "Agreed," Celestia responded, nodding enthusiastically, "that's why I said 'would have.' I have a strange feeling it's be best if your presence went unknown by them for the time being. As such, my second thought is to direct you to New Altero, where the greater part of the Spherus Magnan populous currently resides. Specifically, I was thinking you might spend some time with a certain Glatorian named Ackar, with whom I believe you might be framilar?" "Aw, HELL yes!" I said, punching the air. When do you think I could start?" "I could have a train ready for you in the morning, if you'd like," she said, kindly. "Um," I replied, chewing my lip, "I'd rather not take public transportation, if possible. I don't feel ready to mingle with the local folks too much." "Yes, of course," she said, nodding sagely, "I understand. Perhaps spending time with framilar faces would help. I can teleport you there tonight, then, if you so desire." "Sister," Luna interjected, "is that wise?" "I believe that, given the present circumstances, it is the best course of action. I'll have to let Ackar know in advance, though, and arrange somewhere for Caldoric to stay." "I've got a place to stay already," I interjected. "Where did you think I've been hiding out these last few days? I just need a way to get go and fro. If it helps, I could show you where it is..." "I believe that might be a good idea," Celestia responded. So, I toggled a setting on my HUD, and the solitary waypoint I had set up appeared as a transparent lime green diamond off in one direction, with it's distance measured in meters. I had set it that way a few days ago as a reminder of certain Minecraft minimap mods I used to use. "Shall we go, then?" I asked. They nodded, and Celestia's horn was suddenly encased in a wavering envelope of what looked, to me, like gelatinous plasma. "Brace thyself," said Luna, "the first time is usually the worst." And with that, we vanished, reappearing on the wooden roof of the aboveground portion of my base. "Welcome, ladies," I said, with a sweeping gesture, "to my humble abode: Drakeheim Keep." I then fell to my hands and knees, lightheaded and blinking furiously, like I'd just stood up too fast, or taken too many consecutive deep breaths at once. My stomach churned dangerously, threatening to revolt. "Man, you weren't kidding, were you?" And with that, we left the roof, and I gave them a tour of the parts I had made habitable so far. However, it was slowed slightly by the fact that I hadn't designed the level exchanges to be equine-friendly. I'd have to fix that later. And something else felt off, as it had been since the dragoness incident, but since I couldn't identify it what it was, I ignored it. As I showed them around, I picked up the last of the stuff I'd left behind before being metaphorically dumped on their doorstep by the Olmak. After the tour had ended, Luna went back to their castle, Celestia pulled out a quill, some ink, and some parchment, and began to write a letter, which she explained would be delivered (by way of magic) to Ackar as soon as she finished it. We got a reply within a few minutes, giving us the go-ahead, and some bonus news. If I required it, a local maskmaker named Nurhii had a spare room available. I was torn for a moment, but I eventually decided to go with the new option. That settled, we returned to the castle, which I learned was located in a city known as "Canterlot." I wasn't amused. I asked if I'd be required to register for anything, like citizenship, or whatever the local equivalent of armed (hooved? Ugh, nevermind...) forces was, but she shook her head at the thought. That earlier foreboding had come around to us both again. She argued that it was better if I was kept off the books entirely, for now. I admired how much she trusted her gut instinct on things like this, and so I didn't question it. She also explained the various types of currency I'd absconded with in the dragoness' cave, pointing out which type belonged to which nation, what their relative worth was, and I sorted them out into separate Hammerspace pockets. Once the most locally used form, "bits," was explained, it was fairly easy to remember. It was, in a way, similar to the US currency system I was used to, with a few tweaks. The Widgets were a bit harder to understand, but I tried. Oh my god, did I try. I tried all the... Yeah, sorry, old Earth joke. I'll stop now. Anywho, she sent another letter, telling Ackar I'd be coming shortly, which made me wonder... "Um, Celestia, on the off chance that I have to contact you, how would I do so?" "You'd just write a letter, seal it with wax using an enchanted ring, and then burn it. It'll go to whomever you addressed it to. I'll have a ring made for you discretely made for you, if you have a design in mind." "Oh, yeah, I've got a couple. I'll send them to you later. Let's do this thing!" And with that, I knelt on my right knee, fist on the ground, left arm over my left thigh, head bent. She set off the spell, and suddenly I was somewhere else: a bedroom, it seemed, with a framiliar red, and slightly startled-looking, Glatorian looking down at me. "Hello, Ackar," I said, standing up slowly, "my name's Caldoric. It's a pleasure to be meeting you in the flesh." "By the Great Beings, I'm getting too old for this shit," he muttered, covering his face, "I mean, call me old fashioned, but I'll never get used to things whizzing back and forth across time and space on a whim. I'd take a good old Thornatus over magic any day." "I know what you mean, man," I said, chuckling. "I've pretty much just been shunted a few years into the future, as of a couple days ago." Ackar blinked. "My condolences, Caldoric. I didn't realize." "Oh, it's no problem, Ackar. At the very least, it's more interesting here and now than it was back home. If I hadn't come across that Kanohi Mask, I'd probably still be working the Toys department at my local Department store." I then proceeded to sit on the bed, and tell him my story. When I was done, he nodded. "I admire your determination, Caldoric, and I believe you have a bright future ahead of you. My only regret is that we couldn't have met under better circumstances. The war with the Galactic Conquest Alliance has taken its toll on everyone, despite how little it shows." He stood up, and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Get some sleep. We will start in the morning." "Um," I said, "where should I sleep?" "Right where you are," he said, gesturing to the bed. "I'll be right across the hall if you need anything." "In case you haven't noticed, Ackar, I'm a little old for a nightlight, but thanks for the offer." He froze for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion, before he facepalmed with an audible clang. "You humans have a strange sense of humor, I swear. Nova was just as bad as you, I'll have you know." "Really?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, him and most of his team. I trained them up a bit." "Ah, makes sense. Um, if you don't mind, could you refrain from telling them or anyone else about me, if at all possible?" He nodded. "If you wish, Caldoric." The next morning, I got all kinds of distracted on the way out of the shop. There were so many tools, weapons, and most importantly, Kanohi Masks. I swear, I dropped a few hundred Widgets on Kanohi alone, plus a sword and a couple of knives (just to be safe,) but it was well worth it. I was rather enamored with the workmanship the matoran had put into them, and so I complimented him on it. My new host of masks now included: a Kakama (speed,) a Hau (shielding,) a Miru (levitation,) an Akaku, (X-ray vision,) a Huna (concealment,) a Mahiki (illusion/shapeshifting,) a Kiril (regeneration of inanimate objects,) a Kanohi Kadin (flight,) a Volitak (stealth, a 1-up on the Huna,) a Mask of Growth, a Mask of Intangibility, a Mask of Possibilities, Sensory Aptitude, Rebounding, Silence (Shelek,) Repulsion (Crast,) Biomechanics, Diminishment (Pehkui,) and a strangely-shaped Mask of Incomprehension. He gave me a weird look when I chose some of them, because most Toa would consider them "immoral" powers, like Incomprehension, but I waved it away saying "I'm not a Toa, so it doesn't matter. Not yet, anyways." With my little shopping spree over, I headed out back, to find Ackar leaning on his sword impatiently. "Sorry, Ackar," I said, "I took the opportunity to get some masks, and a couple weapons." I then showed him the sword, which looked somewhat like a cutlass, and the two mismatched knives. He didn't mind the sword, but the knives gave him pause. "You... You know they're not matched, right?" He asked. "Yeah," I said, matter-of-factly, "that's the point. One's a hunting knife, the other's a Saxe knife, or Seax. I have my reasons for that combination. Mostly defensive." "Alright," he said, raising his hands, "well, let's get started, then. I half expected him to start teaching me various parries right then and there, but that didn't happen. Instead, he started me on getting my footwork up to par. You know, balance, firm footing, stance, that kind of thing. It didn't take long, though, and soon he had me starting on parries and other defensive maneuvers. Partway through that, I told him about something called 'The Double Knife Defense,' which was the prime reason for the mismatched knives I had at my hip. He was rather impressed with the idea. The next day, we had a few visitors. The first was an old friend and ally of Ackar's, from way back, named Gresh. He was a Jungle Glatorian, who was given control over the element of Air by Mata Nui, and wielded twin blades that swept back along his arms. With him came a rookie Glatorian that he was training up. The new guy, named Durath, was a Fire type who favored a type of bladed mace, but was still rather good with other weapons as well. He and I got along like a house on fire. Durath seemed to be about my age, and was rather interested in Earth, which seemed so strange and alien to him. After the initial meet-n-greet was over, Ackar decided that it might be a good idea (just to switch things up a bit,) for me to learn a bit from Gresh, and have Durath learn from Ackar, which would provide new perspectives on fighting methods. I'll be the first to admit, learning with Gresh was interesting. He was a much more active person than Ackar, and it showed rather exceedingly in his fighting style. For a general idea, Gresh's moves were like Aang's Airbending in "Avatar: the Last Airbender," all spins and jumps and being everywhere at once, and Ackar's were more along the lines of Zuko's Firebending; sturdy, sweeping steps, and focused strikes meant to finish a fight swiftly. I personally liked them both, and figured it'd be interesting to see how well they meshed together. Durath had the same idea, so in our off time during the next four days, we would occasionally spar, trying out new ideas, usually gaining a new bruise or two in the process. At one point, I had the unique (and frightening) opportunity to demonstrate the Double Knife Defense firsthand. We had both been using swords in a training exercise, and Durath had begun to get a tad overzealous in his attacks. Needless to say, he managed to disarm me, but had gotten so caught up in the pattern that he went to follow through with the next few steps. I managed to avoid everything up to the final overhead stroke, and got out the knives on instinct. As his sword came crashing down, I crossed both knives in front of me and, using the smaller hunting knife to support the larger Saxe, thrust them both firmly upwards, and stepped forwards. The sword came to a halt with a respectable clang, caught neatly near its crossbar, in the valley formed by the two knives. That was the important part, catching the sword as low on its blade as possible, so that you have less rotational momentum to negate. I didn't take the time to admire the fact that it had actually worked, though. I shoved the sword to one side with the Saxe, and used the other hand to punch him in the face. He staggered back a few steps, and shook his head. "Whoah... What was that?" Durath asked. "I believe that was the Double Knife Defense, was it not?" Said Ackar. I nodded. "Yep. It's all in the application of the knives." I then explained what little I knew about the technique, how it could be used for stopping side slashes/chops, and redirecting straight thrusts. I also told them where I had gotten the information: a series of books titled "The Ranger's Apprentice." Of course, the technique was only good against swords, not maces or axes, for obvious reasons. We wound up practicing that for most of the rest of our fourth day together. And on the last bout between Durath and I, something very weird happened. I basically repeated what I'd done the first time, except at the point where I'd gone to punch him, I instead thrust my hand at him, palm outwards, with all fingers extended (save my thumb, which had the knife's hilt pinned to the side of my palm.) As my hand thrust forward, I felt a surge of some kind of energy cascade down along my arm, (accompanied by a pulse of bright green light between the scales etched into my outer armor,) exploding from my palm, and coming to a halt against Durath's chestplate point blank, both firmly and with a vengeance, sending the unfortunate Glatorian flying backwards a few feet and landing flat on his ass. Post release, I could sense the energy I'd somehow channeled, in a strange way. Meaning both "it was strange that I could sense it's lingering presence," and "the way I sensed it was weird." I could feel it, yes, but... by way of taste, if that makes any sense. Like, those rare times when you catch a scent that (near?) exactly mimics a taste you've previously experienced, or vice versa. Trust me, I've had that happen several times in my life, but this was different. I "tasted" the smell of ozone, and freshly cut celery and cucumbers and grass, all at once, as well as the normal tastes of copper, Granny Smith apples, and sour limes. There was a sweetness there, too, that I recognized, but had never been able to name the source of. It wasn't a good type of sweetness, either. As I slowly exhaled, I also registered a heat dying down in the back of my throat which I hadn't felt building up. I heard exclamations off to one side, eerily distorted, and with agonizing slowness I looked over to see Ackar, Gresh, and Nurhii (who had come to watch the new technique,) were surging to their feet in extreme slow motion, and getting even slower. I turned back to see the air within a small radius of my hand distorting wildly, before slowly blossoming into a glob of some tepid flame-shaped plasma, (lime green in color,) like a bubble popping in reverse. I had no time to recognize the full implication of this, as my viewpoint was suddenly rocketing backwards, the small courtyard narrowing to a mere pinprick, and I faintly felt my now-distant body slowly beginning to sag at the knees. When I came to a stop, I turned around, and was faced with an infinite wall of green fire, stretched as far as the eye could see and more. Nevertheless, I still could tell that it was curved ever so slightly. I knew what this was. "The Green Sun," I whispered, reverently. And then I was back in the courtyard again.