Collaborative Fiction: The Twelve Little Superheroes of Christmas

        Ace fought for breath. Whatever this sphere before him was, either a construct of pure water or a creature he’d never encountered before, it refused to be harmed or inconvenienced by his magic. Water has always been an obstacle to magic, its fluid nature resisting manipulations, but this was on a magnitude Ace never prepared for.
        The fact that he was forced to rely on his own personal stores of magical energy also inhibited Ace’s ability to cope well durning the fight. He held back on using his more powerful incantations, fearing he might be left depleted and unable to move, possibly even breathe.
        “I’ve got to risk it for the buiscuit.” Arcane Ace pressed his palms together focused on a spell to summon sub-arctic cold. He touched his index and pinky fingers to one another and pulled the middle fingers back toward him. Tapping his thumbs against one another, a blue ray sped out from his hands and connected with the watery mass.
        It froze instantly and then exploded. Icy fragments spewed out in every direction.
        “That’s right,” Ace cheered. “Arcane Ace one, aliens zero.”
        His stomach felt strange. In his excitement, he failed to notice that the shards of ice had impaled him. He looked down and found red on his shirt over his abdomen. He pressed his hands to his belly, trying to staunch the flow of blood.
        “This isn’t good.” He could feel a number of small holes poked into his flesh. And a rumbling, Tiny rivulets of water poured out of his injuries and dripped down his legs. At the same time, the shattered fragments of ice on the ground melted and slid toward one another. And him.
        Ace found himself being surrounded by water as the droplets combined and rose up his pantlegs and over the rest of his body. His arms still clutching his midsection, he gasped for a final breath of air before he became completely engulfed.
****
        “Transformations?” Krystal Fae asked. “What is it you are planning?”
        We will harvest you from your corporeal forms and draw out each life-force and store them here with us until you finally awaken, free from the burden of you’re the physical world. 
        “Over my dead body,” Gerri shouted, preparing to defend herself and her friends. “This is mine, and nobody has the right to take it.”
        It is the eventual course of life, if a race survives its infancy. This will save your world from centuries, millennia of strife and needless violence. What we do is a gift to you and your kind. No pain or suffering. No need to covet or fight over possessions or property. We bring peace, as we have done to many other worlds.
        “Did any of them ask for you to do that?” Krystal asked.
        Experience is wasted on the young races. We have tried to explain our motives to many but they all resist. If we are to save them from themselves, we had to act in their best interests. Given time, you will come to understand. Watch, and you will see that no harm comes to those we aid.
        A white light surrounded Silver Paladin, pulsing with a building intensity.
        “Stop, you can’t do that. It’s not right!” Agent Leslie screamed.
        Silver Paladin extended his blue blades from his wrists, but before he could raise them, he vanished.
        Something has happened in error. Alert, alert. The harvest has failed.

        Xlcior’s light-cloud surged with violent flickers. How did this happen? Our scans and harvest of the others showed no signs of incompatibility.
        A shelf in one of the vessel’s control rooms housed a new crystalline figuring. Highlander shone in the reflected light of Xlcior’s fury.
        We’ve had no signs of difficulty with the process. With the data we collected from the scans of the unit known as Highlander, as the longest present on the world, nothing should have triggered a fault. A pink light-form stated.
        A teal light-form spoke up.There was an unusual surge of Morphon potential from the one identified as Chaz Hamilton. The surge did coincide with the disappearance of unit Silver Paladin.
        Then bring the reporter of the Sentinel to the scanning chamber. We cannot proceed with any uncertainty of full success before harvesting life on the planet below. Xlcior commanded.

****
Chained Angel joined Astra in the air as she flew over New Amsterdam. “Have you sensed anything new?”
        Astra shook her head. “I hoped that with some altitude, I might be able to get some hint of where they may have gone.”
        “Are you sure that Crossroads didn’t open up one of her folds and take them somewhere?”
        “We aren’t sure of anything? She may have, but why would none of them leave a message if it was a mission?” Astra returned her attention to the sky above.
        Chained Angel spread her white wings out fully to the open air, just as confused as the rest of the searchers. Below her, she could make out the blocks of homes with dazzling displays of holiday decorations. Blinking lights of every color flickered from neighborhood to neighborhood.
        Several of the missing heroes had families. Chained Angel made a promise to herself to make sure that no family had an empty seat at their table come the 25th.
        Astra’s B.A.D.G.E. communicator signaled and incoming message.
        “Hello. Tell me some good news, please.”
        Futurina responded on the other end of the transmission. “I’ve borrowed Wyldfyre’s comm unit. Come and join Fiona and I back at the Star Force Observatory. We have an idea.”
****
        Starmaster pounded his fist on the table. “Blast it. What is going on? Without being able to scan the mindscape, I can’t teleport anywhere. We need to find a way to get to the others. I’m getting a really bad feeling about what’s going on, and when a psychic gets a bad feeling, its best to pay attention to it.”
        “I can pry open the doors to the elevator, I believe.” Gar moved over to the wall and felt for a seam to the opal-like material. “We can follow after them.”
        “Better idea than anything else we’ve come up with.” Starmaster moved to the wall to help the living gargoyle.
        With their attention on the area of the doorway, neither of them noticed the floor beneath Chaz’s chair opening up and dropping him to a lower level.
        “What the—” Chaz uttered as he plummeted. The light of the room above him disappeared as the hole closed shut as soon as he passed through it.

    Astra returned to The Star Force HQ.  She had wondered why Futurina hadn't just telepathically messaged her and then realized, the psi-static that was permeating the planet.  That's why they were unable to contact the heroes that had been taken.
    Could Futurina and Fiona have figured a way to clear the static?  If not maybe they want to try something else.  Astra was aware that Catalyst was good at coming up with devices that could do remarkable things maybe he could figure something out if they couldn't clear the static.
    Astra stopped just for a moment and realized for the first time in a long while she wasn't hearing the thoughts of those around her.  She was alone with her own thoughts.  It was weird that she had grown so used to sensing the thoughts of others that she didn't realize how lonely the world is when there is just you and your thoughts.
***
    Futurina paced as she waited for her daughter to return.  She knew she was always early.  That her internal clock was ten minutes fast.  The psi-static bothered her but didn't affect her other psionic powers.  She knew that with enough power her, Fiona, and Astra could break through it.  A combined effort might do it.
     What really bothered her was the fact that whatever these aliens wanted, they didn't want anyone else knowing about it.  They made sure that any message was sent directly to the brain of the recipient.  She couldn't hear what was said.  There was no psychic signature.  She asked Catalyst to assist.  That young human was very talented.

    "You can't do that!" Gerri yelled.  She began to run at them when she was engulfed in energy and disappeared.
    "Can't do what?" James asked as she opened her eyes to look on the face of her boyfriend.  He handed her a cookie.  "That must have been some dream."
    "How did I jet here?" Gerri questioned.  "I was on a starship and aliens wanted to talk to us about forming an alliance against the Legion.  They wanted my input because I'm an elf, not a human."
    "Wow! Out of all the elves hiding here they chose you?" James teased.  "Why didn't they just take the Freak?  She doesn't even hide."  He brought up a good point.  Though, Gerri knows that Futurina doesn't like to be called "Freak," there had to be another reason.
    She smiled and leaned in to kiss him.  He smiled back.  After a short but passionate kiss, she stated "That's why I love you, you bring a logic I don't see.  I think it has something to do with the Morphon particles.  Like the ones that allowed my ring to access the old powers."
    "Instead of relying on the Rune Magic we had been taught," James added.  He caressed her face.
    "Exactly," she confirmed.  Her emerald green eyes sparkled.  She saw James eyes go wide and his face paled.  She turned around to see Redd Capp leading an army of Red Caps  toward them.
    "Elf Blood!" the monster cried out.  James grabbed a few cookies and quickly inscibed the Shield Rune on them making giant magical cookies appear in front of them.
    "That won't hold them for long," Gerri stated.  She held out her ring and cast fireball several times into the fray trying to break up the attack.
***
    "Interesting," Red pondered, "her ring has the Morphonic particles and acts as a conduit to her magical powers.  The more she uses her powers the faster she will dry up the Morphonic particles.  Let's intensify the simulation."
***

        Corrine halted the flow of time around the two glowing light-forms. “Krystal, I am going to be the next one they harvest. Before they do, I want you to know what a blessing you have provided us.”
        Krystal turned from where she had watched The Sword of Gerraxia disappear. Only she, Corrine, and Agent Leslie remained in the corridor. “That isn’t going to happen. We’re going to find a way to get off this ship and warn the people on the Earth.”
        “I do have to say, there is a wisdom behind these being’s thoughts. Light is a very powerful form of energy. And energy that you can observe in action, but rarely at its source.” Corrine said. “The light from distant stars reaches us here on the planet below, but it is ancient by the time it reaches us. The fiery orb that gave birth to it is most likely long dead before it reaches here.”
        Being friends with a time-witch is a difficult task at times. Their view on the present is often altered by their perceptions of the past and future, making some conversations enigmas. Krystal had participated in enough to realize that Corrine’s comments often came from tangent observations made from her altered relationship with time itself.
        An idea sparked within Krystal’s mind. “These light-forms are how we perceive them here and now, but their actual source could be somewhere else on the ship.” Krystal waved a hand at the orange glowing light-form. “They are projections.”
        “Oh,” Corrine said with amusement. “I thought you already knew that.”
        “What does that mean?” Agent Leslie asked.
        Krystal turned to her and took Leslie's hand. Think of these life-forms as holograms. There is a source that generates them. Of course. All the antennae that the impostor Prysmatica saw on the surface of the ship. They let them transmit anywhere they want to be seen. We need to find the source of these holographic transmissions so we can stop them. Otherwise, we are merely facing up against ghost images with no discernable effect.
        Agent Leslie’s face went pale. Oh, no. She’s gone.
        Through Leslie’s eyes, Krystal saw that Corrine no longer stood in the corridor with them.

    The simulation intensified.  The cookie shields collapsed.  Gerri used her supernatural powers to erect a prismatic shield protecting herself and James as the Monster known as Redd Capp and its army of Red Caps threw themselves at it with all their might.
    She kept firing bubbles of force to restrain or separate them.  She wasn't running out of power, but the morphons of her ring were quickly running out.  
    "James, hand me one of the Morphon Bars," she commanded.
    "We didn't bring any," James stated.  "We didn't expect to have to fight today."
***
    As she was transformed her ring remained.  Fascinating.

Fiona was glad she had Astra and Futurina to assist her … well, actually, more than assist – to guide her. She had powerful psychic powers, but was not an experienced user.

With their guidance, and Catalyst’s ingenuity, they would make contact. She had been working to contact the mind of her husband. She had sensed Highlander’s mind. She was uncertain of his location, but she did know he was not far.

There was just one problem. The contact was faint, and there was no response. She related her findings and concerns to Astra and Futurina.

“I do know he’s there, wherever there is,” Fiona said. “I can sense him, but I can’t contact him. What do we do now?”

Futurina said, “We need Catalyst to get us through the barrier we’re sensing. We’re running out of time.”

I agree,” Astra said. “We need action, and we need to reach him, or Starmaster, or Krystal Fae, or someone.”

        The variables were uncalculable, so Catalyst ignored them. He needed to focus on what was known, not every possibility that could be meaningful.
        The last several months of working with Krystal Fae had taught him a great deal about working with magic. At the same time, he worked alongside Starmaster in the development of psionic enhancers. The two fields were like apples and granite. The similarities were practically non-existent.
        At least it wasn’t apples and super-heated plasma. Apples and granite were both solids. There were properties common to both. But the application. How could he make that tiny connection usable?
        He tinkered with algorithms on his data tablet and tested some theories with bits of equipment he had gathered over the years.
****
        Futunina sat beside Wyldfyre on a small bench in the Star Force Observatory workroom. She could sense Wyldfyre’s concern for his friend and frustration over not being able to do anything.
        She could also perceive Catalyst’s mental processes. To call him brilliant would be an insult. His thought process was incandescent. Rarely had she ever encountered a human with as staggering ability to conceptualize and bring thoughts into such harmony. Mozart, Einstein, DaVinci, Trebeck. Perceiving his mental acuity presented itself as a symphony of color. She was reminded of her favorite Van Gogh painting.
        Astra and Fiona stepped into the room. “Has there been any progress?”
        “None so far, but now that you both are here, I have an idea I would like to try.” Futurina said as she rose from the bench. “Astra, you and I have practiced this. I need you to help Fiona to join with us. I want to form a gestalt.”
        “What good would that do?” Astra asked.
        Furturina shuffled to an empty corner of the room where she had prepared a comfortable nook to gather. Large pillows sat on the floor on a thick furry rug. “Individually, we are all looking with our minds, but we are not powerful enough. If we share the effort and search in unison, we may be strong enough to pierce the veil hiding the others from us.”
        “That it!” Catalyst hunched closer to his computer screen and pressed a button. He then bolted up out of his chair and began gathering bits of electronic gear from various bins in the room.
        “What is it, nerd?” Wyldfyre asked.
        Futurina scowled. “You know how I despise that term.”
        “Your searches have been wide. We need to narrow the scanning area.” Catalyst said as he started connecting pieces of equipment together.
        “Intriguing,” Futurina admitted. “Doing mental searches is a casting of a wide net. How do you propose we narrow our focus?”
        “When you are gestalt, search for one thing. All search for same thing at same moment. Something with strong connection.”
        “That’s all well and good, but we don’t know where to search. The world is a big place.” Astra said.
        “But not all magic comes from this world. Extra-dimensional. And Krystal has items that draw on energy from other dimensions. She has particles that are not from here.” Catalyst brought a few more devices together and dropped them in the middle of the carpet. “I track those from other side.”
        “I don’t know what you are talking about Catalyst, but it all sounds good to me,” Fiona said.
        Following the scientists plans, the four of them began to assemble a new piece of gear. One that further sensed into dimensions outside of their own.
****
        Starmaster and Gar managed to pry a hole into the wall where the elevator shaft had appeared. While the car was not present, the shaft itself gave them access to lower levels of the ship.
        “Chaz, you wait here for Xlcior.” Starmaster looked back into the room. “Oh, great. Now he is gone too.”
        “We must find the others.” Gar dropped into the shaft and spread his wings.
        Starmaster knew Gar was right. They couldn’t waste any more time.
****
        Chaz landed on an invisible bubble and bounced a few times before sliding to the ground. The room was empty except for a large metal needle pointing out of a corner of the ceiling.
        Instinctively, Chaz moved underneath the needle, fearing it could thrust out from the wall and impale him. “Next thing you know, the walls will start closing in and I’ll start having garbage dumped on my head.”
        The needle began to vibrate. A sharp sound filled the air, forcing Chaz to cover his ears with his hands.
****
        Have you discovered why the subject disappeared yet? Exlcior asked.
        Not yet. Perhaps we should delay the attempt to harvest the life on this planet. A green light-form stated.
        Of course we should. This process isn’t meant to harm anyone. It is meant to help them. Don’t attempt any action on the planet until we have finished with the subjects here. Harvest the remaining ones as quickly as you can. They are growing restless. Allowing them to split up has distracted them sufficiently. When they awaken after harvesting, they will understand what it is we are doing for them.
        A bank of lights flashed near a lime-green light-form. The being in the room is showing a quantum-bonded link. I believe that the attempt to harvest the other being triggered it to retreat into a neighboring quantum level to avoid our efforts.
        The Morphon particles that the Legion introduced have created more varied interactions than predicted. The signatures of powers on this world vary too greatly.
        Xlcior moved up to the wall and pushed a portion of his body through. Below him, he could see Chaz crouched on the floor, hugging his head. Xlcior pulled back into the room with the other light-forms. Continue to examine this quantum bond. Find out if it is an isolated occurrence or if we can expect others to share this anomaly.

    Astra looked at Fiona and saw the concern on her face, "If we are going to search for only one person together, might I suggest we look for Highlander?"
    Futurina and Fiona looked at her as Catalyst spoke, "It would be better to look dimensional energy, but single person possible."  He continued to make adjustments.  
    "I think that will be fine," Futurina agreed.  This made Fiona relax slightly.
    "You would do that for me?" Fiona asked.  
    "We need this to work," Astra stated.  "If we are looking for a specific energy and you start thinking of your love, then we fail.  If we all search for Highlander then we succeed."  Astra and Futurina looked at Fiona, "We know how much you love him.  We don't need to keep you from finding him.  We need to help you find him."
    "Search for energy if that not work," Catalyst replied as he finished his set up.  He handed them each an earpiece to monitor their progress.  They each looked at each other. They took each others hands and closed their eyes.  Futurina's silver blue psionic energy began to rise first.  Astra's red psionic energy swirled around her.  Fiona's bright white energy illuminated from her.  The energies merged to form a single pearled energy.  It shot out into the sky in search of Highlander.

(All of Corrine's fights in this story unless stated otherwise are mentally in her simulation by the aliens and not actually happening in reality.)

Corrine Daniels slowly began to wake up. She remembered being teleported onto an unfamiliar alien ship after her personal mentor of time magic  AphraeltheFaeChildGoddessofInnocenceversion3.0 had advised her to use caution but not recklessly use her magic and Morphon abilities to negotiate and talk with them as well as meeting up with Acidburn, and other well-known Heroes Rising heroes.

They had all been invited to meet these new beings to determine if they were a threat to Earth or allies against the Legion.  However the heroes began to vanish intermittently, she already knew or at least personally suspected that the aliens had ulterior motives but that did not mean they also did not have benign ones too and eventually Corrine volunteered to be the next one taken.  and the next thing she knew she was...somewhere else in space and time that was too familiar and yet too odd not to be real for her.

A cave in Ayer's Rock in Australia.  It was definitely an advanced holographic illusion and she knew they only could have programmed this so from her memories only because no one in the group there except herself had ever been to that exact location on that particular Earth at that exact time in question.

Slowly taking a breath, Corrine walked forward to face a nightmare from her childhood and teenage years: The nightmare of when the ???? ??? raided her home, killed her family, and abducted her for their own nefarious purposes.
 ****************************************

This human seems to have quickly recognized that some of these images were taken from her memories.  Does her profile suggest she is telepathic?  More remarkable still, the physical location here does not correspond to any of our scans of the planet. It seems that it is located, from her readings, on an Earth divergent in Space/time from the planet below. Since we cannot physically map this, how shall we proceed in testing her?   Let's continue, but we should try to shift her focus from the past to the present.
 ****************************************

The cave was dark and bathed in menacing shadows and red pools of hot lava. At the center was an altar of blackest obsidian. Corrine frowned. This was not how she remembered it. Something was wrong.  That was it!

She was supposed to be tied to the altar but she was seeing someone she can not see or remember at all tied in her place.   "?-???????? is that really you? I thought you were lost when we rescued Santa from Krampus several months ago. How are you here? How am I here?" "Stay back Corrine! This is not real, as you have surmised. This is a mental and magical trap and you must break immediately or else!"  Deep hideous booming laughter suddenly surrounded the time witch as she bravely tried to understand this complete stranger's confusing message.

"Of course ????? would be behind this particular trap. She was always one to play on emotions (?) cruelly to entrap me in her plots time and time again?!" Corrine scowled angrily and cast a slow time field spell to cover the whole cave with her at the center.
"Show yourself you old crone and hag. You have always hidden behind your minions in the past. Well, I am calling you out right now. You call yourself a goddess? I say you are nothing but an immortal so old she forgot she was once mortal. I challenge you ?????!"  Dark waves of hatred suddenly began swirling from the altar as it's illusion was dispelled. To her horror, Corrine instead saw her family sucked to bones by the ???????????!
"By the powers I possess, you insignificant little magic-user, I can do whatever I want in my realm and you will not stop me."  

That was it! Defying the caution Aphrael had given her, Corrine blasted away at at this mysterious enemy with a magic spell designed to show one their true appearance in age while dispelling all magic to prevent that. In front of the apparation(?) appeared a white mist that slowly materialized into something horrifying that protruded ancient looking giant bones that suddenly creaked and groaned as they began to move as slowly a withered giant being of now mainly bone began to rise.  

"Go ahead ????? behold your true appearance just like you tried once to curse me into looking the same way so long ago!"  ****************************************
"Such anger and wrath from such a deceivingly normal-looking human female. She must truly have trained long mentally and emotionally to have such power and control over her time magic so. If we and our ship's sensors are not mistaken, magic like that is strong enough to reverse a red dwarf back into a star like Sol the sun of Earth."

“Shift your scan to this point.” Catalyst said as he pointed to a three-dimensional display of the planet Earth. “I’ve traced a flow of Krystal’s magics drawn from a nearby dimension into this area. Nothing there according to satellites, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t being hidden.”
        The gestalt of Astra, Fiona, and Futurina nodded in unision, their voice a choral. “WE HEAR YOU.”
        “Well, if that ain’t just freaky as hell,” Wyldfyre said.
        The three of them turned their psionic searchlight to the point Catalyst indicated, trying to contact Fiona’s husband, Highlander. Their three minds in unison sought of the unmistakable presence that Fiona knew like the back of her hand.
        “THERE IS SOMETHING THERE. A VESSEL. MANY MINDS. THERE ARE MORE THERE THAN COULD POSSIBLY BE IN ONE PLACE.” Their three faces soured as they struggled against the massive omnipresence, like searching for one certain pea in a bowl of pea soup. “WE CAN SENSE HIM. HE IS THERE. ASLEEP. NO. NOT ASLEEP. HIBERNATING.”
        “Can you sense any of the others?” Wyldfyre asked as he stepped closer to the trio of psychics.
        “No.” Catalyst shook his head emphatically. “Don’t lose the link. I try to get coordinates for B.A.D.G.E.”
****
        Highlander hadn’t a care in the world. All he could feel was drowsy and warm.
        “HIGHLANDER!” A forceful thought filled his mind. He felt as if he hadn’t completed one of Fiona’s ‘honey-do’ lists and she was calling out for him to wake from a peaceful nap. “HIGHLANDER!”

Krystal quickly analyzed her options as soon as Corrine disappeared. Moments later, Leslie also vanished.  

Krystal knew she had mere moments to act before she too was taken... she had to do something that would protect Earth... or slow the aliens in their plans... or at the least alert BADGE to investigate.

She knew she couldn't directly overcome the alien gestalt on her own, so she magically constructed the only thing that she thought might achieve her objectives.

Just within the shield barrier that the ship projected, she constructed a crystalline shell.

It was very similar to the crystal 'prison' that had engulfed Prysmatica during the incident with the Redd Capp, but it was enormous. It was structured with reflective facets that theoretically should contain photonic beings and their effects, at least for a good while. It should be easily detectable from the outside, as its size, combined with its structure, should reflect an enormous amount of electromagnetic energy. It should ping every radar detector on the BADGE station.

Having done what she could to alert BADGE and protect Earth, she gathered every scrap of mana and morphonic energy she could, and waited for the aliens to take her.

*****************************************************************

Krystal entered the Arboretum.

Heros from many leagues mingled. Some wandered in the direction of the food court, as others stood listening to musicians playing.

As the band ended its previous selection, they looked at the leader. She nodded and signaled for a seasonal favorite. The initial notes of 'The 12 days of Christmas' drifted forth from the instruments.

Krystal thought that it was a bit odd to hire a drum-and-bagpipe ensemble to play at a Christmas party, but she could not deny that the music suited the affair.

The heroes surrounding the players sang the lyrics with varying degrees of success. A few were flat, a few others were seriously off-key, but the point was not a professional sounding performance, but basking in the fellowship of their peers.

As the song reached the 11th day, mentioning the pipers, Krystal noticed that there seemed to be an electronic tone at odds with the music, a flash of light was reflected from the dome of transparent aluminum over the arboretum, and the air was suddenly filled with heroes and musicians flung from multiple small explosions.

Krystal gestured quickly and threw a bubble field to retain the atmosphere, zipped to a control panel, and initiated an emergency dome closure. She then began to assess the injuries as she called for medical assistance. She cast healing spells as quickly as she could, and called again for medical aide...

*******************************************************************

Xicor watched expectantly as Krystal quickly depleted her Morphon energy... she should begin her crystalization any moment now...

Verdant intoned to Xicor, "Something is amiss, according to readings, her transformation should have begun by now... her Morphon levels are well below threshold levels, and her available mana levels are well below the point that her resistance should have been overcome..."

"Have we missed something, then?", Xicor mused.  "Rescan subject and verify..."

 

Starmaster and Gar moved down the elevator shaft, looking for a means to access a different floor. Gar spread his wings and glided from once side to the other as Starmaster telekinetically lowered himself.
        “How are we going to find them?” Gar asked.
        Starmaster shook his head. “I don’t… hold on. I have an idea.”
        Starmaster took out his B.A.D.G.E. communication device. “My telepathy doesn’t work, but maybe I can get the tracking app to work.” He tapped at the screen several times. “I’m getting a signal.”
        …..
        Glancing around the elevator shaft, Starmaster found Gar had disappeared.
        He looked back at the tiny screen and headed to find the one remaining signal he could identify.
****
        This one has a vastly different power signature. There are traces of Mophon decay on its body, but the being itself is animated stone. There is nothing we can harvest from this being.
        Xlcior hovered closer to the computer bank the other light-form reported from. Hold it isolated in the room for the time being. It can be returned to the planet after we have completed our mission.
        Is that wise? I thought we were going to halt harvesting the planet until we better understood the various alterations the people who live there have obtained. The silver light-form asked.
        Don’t question my decisions. We must succeed at our mission and prevent needless harm to continue. Reviewing the latest transmissions, it is possible that powerful entities may wish to use these people to create a new Legion. One that might surpass the current incarnation of the scourge of the universe. We must prevent that from happening.
        A red light flashed on the computer panel. Warning. A silicate structure has appeared around the vessel. Our cloaking field has been disrupted. The planet below can become aware of our presence now.
****
        The people of the northern hemisphere looked up to the sky, where a bright, glistening star shone larger and brighter that any others. Even the moon, which hung in the opposite corner of the sky seemed jealous of the new luminescent orb that shone in the Christmas Eve sky.
        Inside the Star Force Observatory, Catalyst used satellite imaging to create a clearer picture at what had appeared in the earth’s orbit. “It is a shell of a crystalline material, with high-refractive indexes. I think vessel where Highlander and the others are is inside of shell.”
        “Girls, did you hear that?” Wyldfyre looked to the three women as they sat trying to make contact with Highlander.

From the point-of-view of the photonic aliens, Krystal had fallen unconscious, but for some reason still remained untransformed.

Krystal had never attempted this particular application of fae abilities, but she was exceptionally adept at  Astral projection and while the gestalt generated too much mental 'static' to permit normal telepathic transmission, it could not block transmission within her own body. She had only begun to detect emotions from her fetus a few days before, so she couldn't be certain this would work, but she had to try, while she still had enough hidden reserves to make the attempt.

***************************************

The small consciousness was aware that a greater energy-force was approaching.  It was somehow both familiar and, because of its relative strength, intimidating. It surrounded the mote of identity.

A small girl-child formed within the glow of the larger energy. The somehow familiar form of a larger being formed on its knees before her.

The Astral form of Krystal smiled at her daughter and began to transfer her thoughts, feelings, and memories to give her the tools she needed to form coherent thoughts.

"Mother... this is... not natural...", thought the child.

"No... but it is necessary... we must reach these other beings, but their minds are one, and that one is too strong for me to reach alone... only a mental gestalt of two or more fae can generate enough power to reach them..."

"Very well...", the child's mind, rapidly becoming both coherent and powerful in its own right, sent.

The two beings mentally merged.

***************************************************

"Xicor..."

The photonic being became aware of mental contact from outside the photonic gestalt...

"This should not be possible...", he sent.

"But it is nonetheless occurring.", stated the fae multi-mind.

"What is your true objective, why have you really contacted us?", he sent.

"My/our very question, in regards to your collective...", he received in return.

Back in Ice Ray Academy, AphraeltheFaeChildGoddessofInnocenceversion3.0 sat in her private study extremely worried. She had just sensed an enormous surge of time magic and had instantly identified it as belonging to her student Corrine Daniels. "I did warn and caution her but something very drastic indeed must have happened for her to use that high class restricted spell. She must be found immediately or else ?????'s mysteriouscurse, which has been held at bay for so many decades, will break free of the magical barrier I sealed it behind and start aging Corrine within seconds until she dies."


She sent out a telepathic communication to the strongest students and the headmaster and his wife. "Jenna Firemage, go to the BADGE headquarters. Coordinate with every league also missing members. Do not use your Bloodcurse at all no matter what! Meanwhile I will have your brothers use their particular magic to search for our unknown enemies and have Headmaster James StarRunner and his wife Bobby begin a new search for our former ally as they may be the only one able to stop and save Corrine."

"As for myself I will commune with my fellow good goddess Sehanine Moonbow. As it is almost the full moon, her powers will shortly be more powerful then my own and I suspect she will be more powerful in finding Corrine in space then us here on Earth."

Suddenly moonlight filled Aphrael's study as Sehanine suddenly appeared before her. "There is no need for you to have the others look for ????????. Ever since someone risked their life decades ago to locate and save Corrine due to an unknown love for her, I have kept a close eye on someone for safety. The day soon will come when both of them will have a major decision to make but now is not the time to discuss that further. Just be aware ???????? is currently in thrall to ????? and ????? ????????? and Corrine will be needed to safely break a mysterious hold on an unknown being once and for all.

"For now, I agree that Corrine is in great danger. The mysterious technology shielding her current location is something I can magically negate temporarily but I need your assistance because I can not do it except via great distance and they are on the other side of Earth currently from the Moon which temporarily cuts my power in half."

Pooling their magic together the Styric and Elf goddesses began a ritual ancient when this version of Sol did not exist yet. Calling upon their mastery of illusion and faith, the two temporarily merged into a dual goddess who shall remain nameless. Using her new powers she sent a surge of beneficial magic towards the location Krystal Lynn and her unborn baby and Corrine Daniels had last been sensed in.

At the same time the alien ship began showing on the top secret sensitive sensors of the Academy as Jenna Firemage at the same time arrived at BADGE headquarters via magical teleportation.

    The gestalt of Futurina, Astra and Fiona had found Highlander and attempted to rouse him from hibernation that the aliens had put him in.  Cain, aka Highlander, was very powerful physically.  His curse made him difficult to read, not impossible.  Futurina had never had to enter his mind, but both Astra and Fiona had.
    "WAKE UP, HIGHLANDER," they telepathically called out to him.  He stirred from the sleep they had induced to him.  "YOU NEED TO FIND THE OTHERS.  WE HAVE FOUND YOU.  WE NEED YOU TO FIND AND FREE THEM."
    "I hear Fiona, Astra, and someone else," Highlander stated.  "Who else is in there with you, Fiona?"
    "FUTURINA, IT WAS THE ONLY WAY TO BREAKTHROUGH," they answered.
    It was kind of disconcerting to hear their voices in unison, but he rose and tried to leave the room the aliens had placed him in.  It was locked.  "Can you sense anyone else?" he asked.
    "IT TAKES ALL OF OUR CONCENTRATION TO MAINTAIN CONTACT WITH YOU, BUT THE OTHERS ARE NEARBY," they replied.
    "That's all I need to hear," he stated.  His massive arms pulled the door open and he went searching as the alarm went off.  

Jenna arrived at BADGE HQ. She was asked to wait while someone was located to coordinate with her group. As she waited, several agents rushed by... she heard them speaking of the sudden disappearance of several heroes and then the appearance of an enormous crystal in orbit.  "A crystal...in orbit... that sounds like the work of someone familiar...", thought Jenna. She informed the robot coordinating communications that she would return shortly, and hurried to inform Aphrael...

*******************************************************************
Meanwhile Corrine may have been physically crystallized but magically her non morphon powers were not yet out of her. This was evidenced as her ornamental decoration of a cowgirl began moving about without anyone touching it. "How is this even possible? Is her magical strength of will so that even in this form she can continue to resist us where so many civilizations in the past had failed? This one is unique indeed. Scan her to see if she is only human or much more." "Sensors indicate unidentifiable types of magic coming from the location of her 'League'. Unidentifiable to our electronics perhaps but maybe not to us. Someone needs to go and decipher these magics in order so we may know if they mean us harm or not."

Highlander opening the doors to his place of confinement, was not like most people opening a door. The aliens who had confined him and his fellow heroes were accustomed to dealing with psychic powers, magics and the like, but the big Scotsman presented something entirely different, and they had misread what the big man was all about. They had geared everything concerning their to the perspective of Morphonic-based powers, but where Morphons had offered some enhancement (perhaps) to his powers, his was relative to his curse, as was his immortality, so the doors were geared to dealing with Morphon based qualities, and not the sheer brute strength that Highlander possessed.

Therefore , opening the doors was more like shredding heavy steel and rending the structure than simply opening the doors. Thus, numerous alarms rang out throughout the ship, alerting everyone of the aliens. The alarms also served to stir the senses and awareness of the other heroes, particularly the ones less impacted by Morphons, such as Corrine Daniels.

With no Morphonic interference, she had retained much of her awareness, and now she had become aware of a fierce will. The volatile Highlander was … annoyed, shall we say. And an annoyed Highlander was accounting for the noise she could hear.

The shredding of steel, the ripping of other material, the crashing of items – that was the work of a rampaging and very large man. He had no idea exactly where he was in the ship, he just knew he had found another individual who had been kidnapped, by had yet to be assimilated.

He was in an area that had suffered some damage and he could see, through a huge hole in the surface beneath him, a familiar form.

Reaching down through the hole, he bellowed, “ACE! GRAB MY HAND!!!”

He pulled the Magic Master through the hole to his level and they moved through the level, and spotted another individual.

"That's Corrine Daniels," Arcane Ace said. "CORRINE. OVER HERE."

(All of Corrine's fights in this story unless stated otherwise are mentally in her simulation by the aliens and not actually happening in reality.)

Corrine could hear no voices as noise as her internal magical struggle continued. To say that her wrath against her unknown adversary was unfulfilled was putting it mildly. Besides showing ????? ??? ??????????? her own true age minus her magic, she had forced her to be consumed by her own horrors? (redacted), thrown her through a portal of time into prehistory before gods even existed or magic and even turned her into a child and murdered her repeatedly in many ways too creative for a mere human to imagine.

So when Arcane Ace called her name, in her mind she saw and heard another mysterious being ********* *** *********, remembered feelings of decades of cruel treatment when the old Ice Ray Academy was conquered and killed the immediate relatives of Jenna and her brothers, predictably she went far more crazy.

Channeling her power into physical not magical power lest it have effect except for him absorbing the power and sending it back at quadruple the power, she unleashed a kick reducing his being into dust then she went further and took ???? and covered him in it which reduced the figure in her sim to unintelligible screaming and cursing in the most agonizing noise but music to her ears.

*******************************************************************

This one appears to have suffered a very traumatic past judging by what our sensors are telling us. It is very safe to assume that should she regain her faculties while here still, we would have to take drastic measures as with Highlander and Arcane Ace lest we can find a way to stop their future wrath against us all.

As for the magic heading this way, a telepathic surge is coming this way too and our sensors indicate BADGE has become aware of our presence here too finally. This may be more then we can afford to face at this time. Should we still resume the harvest or prepare to defend ourselves .....or offer a truce?

*******************************************************************

"Corrine has passed the limit of safety," the goddess thinks to herself as she keeps sending her magic to the ship to assist her Krystal and the other heroes. "This is very dangerous now for those not experienced with her personality and her personally. I will have to enter her thoughts if KrystalLynn can not in time. This was never a scenario I foresaw so many decades ago when ???????? first saved her and brought her to us as a refugee."

        Krystal Fae was unconscious on the ground when Starmaster teleported beside her. He found her using the signal from her B.A.D.G.E. communication device to find her position. He dropped to the ground beside her, overwhelmed by what he had witnessed.
        Teleporting for him was a jaunt through the astral plane, or as he named it, the Mindscape. His Morphon granted ability to sense thoughts, telepathy, had been unusable aboard the alien vessel. Now he knew why. On the Mindscape, a sentient mind appeared as a bright speck of light, and on earth, they were spread out in clusters like the night sky.
        On board this vessel, the lights were as close to one another to be the central mass of a galaxy, so close to one another they created a bright field of undistinguishable brightness. There were so many minds here, but most of them were dim and inactive, as if unconscious. One tremendous source of brilliance came from what he could only assume were the minds of the Continuum of Galooine.
        And there was a tiny yet shining melding of lights in Krystal’s abdomen.
        He lifted himself up at the waist and place a hand to Krystal’s throat, feeling for a pulse.
        Our very question, in regards to your collective, the Continuum of Galooine. What is it you truly want?
        Starmaster overheard a piece of telepathic communication taking place. He focused in on it.
        We seek to end needless conflict. The transformation we bring this world will stop your reliance on the physical. There will be no more death. No hunger. No suffering. Without the bonds of corporeal existence, there is no need for materialistic dominance.
        The voice speaking was clearly Xlcior’s. The other voice was dual, a combination of an unknown young mind and Krystal Fae.
        What gives you such a right to take this from the people of a world without their consent? The duality asked.
        When the choice is between protecting life and watching it needlessly end, we have made the choice for them. Xlcior thought.
        The duality, primarily the smaller, younger voice spoke. I have not had the opportunity to explore a physical existence yet. I am curious to do so, but your actions will steal that opportunity from me. 
****
        Highlander and Arcane Ace left Corrine in her room. She didn’t respond to their call for assistance and Fiona/Futurina/Astra begged for them to move deeper into the ship. Their psychic senses had identified a large source of energy in a nearby room.
        The wall separating the two of them from the unknown energy was much denser that the doors Highlander had dealt with. Even his strength couldn’t make a dent in it.
        “Hold on. Let me try something,” Ace said as he pulled a black grease pencil out of his pocket.
        Highlander slammed his fist into the wall a final time. “What are you going to do? Draw a door?”
        “Well…” Ace smirked as he did just that, creating a circle of dark black on the wall and filling it in to make a large black dot. “I could but we don’t need a door, just a window.”
        Ace took a step back, made his arcane gestures, and touched the edge of the black smear. A yellow light flashed over the drawing and the wall it rested on. The section of wall turned pitch black within the barrier of a yellow circle where Ace had drawn.
        Highlander placed his hand to the dark portal. It passed through with ease. “Why can’t we see through to the other side?”
        “Why does everyone always want to know how the magic works?” Ace moved up behind Highlander and gave him a push.
        Highlander fell through the wall and slipped into the room beyond.
****
        Silver Paladin walked in light. He was aware his body was not present, but being magically constructed, he understood it would reappear if he found a way back to the physical world. Before he found a way to exit Chaz Hamilton’s mind while he was away, Silver Paladin had spent much time as an astral being.
        He moved cautiously, floating as a human-shaped sheen of moonlight on water, without substance but not without purpose. The floating orbs that surrounded him hung like thousands of glass bulbs on a Christmas tree, but each one had only a faint luminescence to its interior. He brushed up against one and felt an astral presence within it. Alien, full of sensations and existences he could barely conceptualize, but there was a faint sense of self.
        This was what the aliens had wanted to do to him, and to the others in his group.
        It couldn’t be allowed. Being imprisoned as such was unfair and needed to be stopped. This being deserved to be free.
        Silver Paladin preferred fighting with his swords, but he had other forms of attacks available. He targeted the orb with one of his Shadow Clones, a mental attack, and sent forth a weak effort to test the limits of the orb surrounding the lifeform. He wanted to break its inhabitant out, not harm them.
        He slowly increased the strength of his attack, searching for the breaking point.
****
        “WE HAVE FOUND HIM.” The psychic trio proclaimed in harmony. “WE ARE GUIDING HIM TO THE LARGE POWER SOURCE WE HAVE FOUND NEARBY HIM.”
        “What kind of power? Can you tell?” Catalyst asked.
        “NO. WE ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH IT.”
        “Try to find Starmaster.” Wyldfyre ordered.
        “WE CAN TRY.”