PART NINE: THE REAL MONSTER
Oracle Tabitha’s eyes bored down deeply into Amabel’s and she put as much weight into her power of Confession to ask, “What great darkness to this Reality did your goddess warn you about?”
“There is a Reality away from ours that is comprised solely of monsters… You recall that Skip and I vanquished the Leviathian when we were squaring off against Maelstrom but my goddess informs me that it was not a creation of the slain goddess her sister once was, rather, she acquired the beast from that world…”
“There are monsters from that world that are too horrific to contemplate and someone opened a door to that abyss… I fear it might signal the end of all of Reality as we know it,”
“Who opened the door to that Reality?” Tabitha asked in shock.
Amabel shrugged. “Some misled scientists working with an illegal and rather crude imitation of the Alison-Clarke Machine,”
“What in the world is the Alison-Clarke Machine?”
“I am not a scientist so all I know is its just a fancy Time Machine that allows travel to Alternate Realities. The thing is obviously strictly observed, must follow stringent government regulations but apparently some not so nice people liked the idea of the machine so much, they decided to create their own version of it. Their experiments have, unfortunately, doomed all in this Reality,”
Tabitha thought it over more before asking, “What does all this have to do with the Fischer clan? Does the Alison family have something against them?”
“The Fischer clan? They shouldn’t be involved in this. As far as I am concerned, the Alison family bears no ill will towards them,”
“But what of this Alison-Clarke Machine? And the gate opening to this world of monsters? Is it not an unintended result of whatever that invention has wrought?”
Amabel shook her head confusedly. “Aurora Alison, part inventor of the Alison-Clarke Machine is one of the most brilliant minds of our age. She led the war against the Entity, gathering up the soldiers the forces of good could not do without. Were it not for her individual efforts, I fear where this world would be. In fact, it is because of her efforts, indirect though they may be that the Entity was defeated,” Amabel stated.
Tabitha mulled it over more as Dolphus growled out the question, “Where is this gate to that world of monsters? Can it be sealed back up?”
Amabel nodded. “I assure you that the door has already been sealed tightly. However, some monsters from that world had already spilled over to some Timelines in this Reality. My goddess informed me that there is only so long a time that the door can remain shut since the monsters of that world have already been made aware to the presence of this world…”
“My lady, a word of advice from me, work not against Aurora Alison and the Alison family at large, but with them, in tandem. The resilience of the family has been tried and tested and like fine gold, it has invariably been carved up in the halls of history as invaluable,”
“You have yet to convince me that the scientists that opened up the door to the world of the monsters were not working under the instructions of the Alison family who are known for playing both sides of every war, seeking the route that offers the most power….”
“I thought their olive branches towards my cause rather suspicious and now I understand perfectly that the reason behind their apparent generosity is to somehow make up for tinkering with things beyond their power or understanding,” Tabitha stated through gritted teeth. Dolphus and his pack growled in tandem, bearing their fangs in anger.
“I have had about enough of you and your accursed family. I will tolerate your indiscretions no longer. Be rest assured that I shall see justice served to the wretched Alison family and if the Royal Family is massacred as I have foreseen, I will wage a war against you. You have earned yourselves a powerful enemy,”
“You are making a terrible mistake, Oracle Tabitha. The Alison family had nothing to do with the errant scientists opening up a doorway to the world of monsters but I see trying to reason with you and your… band of mutts is futile,”
“It is you and your wretched family that have made a terrible mistake in underestimating my power. I will see to it that justice is served to you,”
“You would punish the family that brought you the greatest Savior the world has ever known- the incomparable son of Avery Alison? Even if you could forget how I saved everyone from the fallen goddess Maelstrom, how could you so conveniently fail to acknowledge that? Why is it so easy to believe the Alisons are behind this particular colossal mishap?”
“You are an Alison witch, true and through, Amabel. You are defending your family’s misdeeds but the whole world knows who you truly are and we are all painfully aware that we have you to thank for making the world that much darker,”
Amabel rolled her eyes at them.
“Where is your dear little Protector, Amabel? You didn’t think I forgot all about good ol’ Kenzo, did you?”
“Kenzo is making himself useful like the henchman he is, you needn’t worry about him,”
“Oh, I am not worried about him. I am merely making up for lost time. I think it is about time you and him face rightful justice for all your crimes,”
Amabel smiled humorlessly. “Is that so, my lady? Are you under the mistaken impression that I am not here of my own volition? Do you really believe you could so easily subdue me?”
“You overestimate your own abilities, Amabel. Just you try to slip away. You are sorely in need of a Reality check, it seems,”
Amabel cackled. “That so? Well then, show me what you are truly made of, Tabby,”
There was a sudden flash bang that filled the entire room with bright white light and in the confusion that followed, they saw Amabel’s Protector Kenzo Blake appear from a distinctively dark puddle the Lady was renowned for, mockingly saluting the Oracle and her party while winking at them and then he disappeared into it with his charge.
Dolphus and his pack scoured every inch of their Denary home but could not catch up to Amabel or Kenzo.
“I am sorry, Tabby. We couldn’t catch them,” Dolphus stated.
“No matter. She will get her rightful comeuppance sooner or later. And besides, we are now the wiser about the threat to the Royal Family of Mialand. We will set out at once to warn them and hopefully avert the dark vision,”
Dolphus nodded and in another three days, they had traveled to Mialand and warned the Royal Family that the great darkness that had been wrought upon the world by the Alison family, was after them and they needed to prepare for it.
The Alison Family was then collectively designated public enemies and were closely monitored by Protectors’ Agency and word got around that the family were planning a major power usurping move to assume leadership of the Witch Nation at the cost of the Royal family and by extension, its people.
The bias that had persisted against the Alison clan since its inception in the year 1830 had once more reached fever pitch with the witches of Mialand boycotting all Alison owned businesses and an outcry to have the family’s vast wealth confiscated and their accounts frozen.
Furthermore, the Lady of the Placid Lake and her Protector became public enemies and climbed the list of the Protectors’ Agency most wanted, a fall from grace as they had been known as the heroes that had slain the dark goddess Maelstrom.
As Oracle Tabitha and her Protector and his pack stayed in Mialand under the Royal Family’s hospitality, they were surprised to be visited by none other than the Savior of the Redeemed Timeline,(formerly known as the Dark World) with her Protector faithfully by her side.
“Who might you be, young Miss?” asked Oracle Tabitha.
“Oracle Tabitha, my name is Imani Kanda and I am the Savior of the world you previously knew as the Dark World,” she stated and respectfully bowed.
“You’re the savior? To what do I owe the honor of your visit, my lady?”
“Oracle Tabitha, I am afraid you have made a terrible mistake by vilifying the Alison family. They have nothing to do with the threat to the Royal Family’s lives,”
“What… do you mean, my lady? Amabel confirmed it herself- the doorway to a world of monsters was opened and a great darkness looms over this Reality. It was because of the actions of the Alison family- an Aurora Alison with her Alison-Clarke Machine that we face this threat. I have had a vision of the death of every member of the Fischer clan and I am certain now that it has been brought to the light, the Fischers shall survive,”
Imani shook her head. “The threat to the Fischer clan is not a monster from that Reality but a mortal monster from this one…”
Imani opened her book bag and took out a painting she had made of the and handed it over to Oracle Tabitha. The painting was exactly the landscape Tabitha had observed a thousand times over in her nightmare with the same crimson sky above, a large ghastly red tree springing up from the middle of Palace grounds and the Royal Palace. The only exception made to the painting was that of a figure of a woman dressed in all red, her facial features completely obscured from sight by a red colored veil except for her lips that had curled up in an unnaturally large smile the likes that chilled Tabitha to her core.
“Who is this woman, my lady?” Tabitha asked Imani fearfully.
“The one who threatens the life of the Royal Family of Mialand is the Red Veiled Empress; the Slain Crimson Emperor’s wife, Empress Weylyn,”
TO BE CONTINUED…
What threat does the Red Veiled Empress pose to the Royal Family of Mialand? Stay tuned to find out! Links to previous parts are linked below. Enjoy!
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