PART THREE: THE RISE OF PHEONIX
The trial of the apprehended Astral Avenger Bea Broker was conducted in the Oracle’s Court in the Magical Realm country of Terra Sapienta. The case was well publicized and broadcast to the entire Magical Realm. Oracle Emica wisely took as little time as possible given the significant amount of evidence stacked up against Bea and given the fact that Bea herself did not deny any of the charges brought up against her. Bea was smug throughout the trial, breaking out in uncontrollable fits of laughter at times as the evidence against her was presented by the prosecution.
Bea was found guilty of all charges brought against her and was sentenced to exiled life imprisonment. The specifics of exactly where Bea would be imprisoned were deemed highly classified although Avery knew that the Astral Avenger would be imprisoned in Timeline D-3 which had the facilities and technology required to hold a caster of her caliber. Once the trial was over, Avery, that had closely followed the trial from the courtroom while in disguise, turned away to promptly exit from the scene when she heard Director Port’s voice call after her.
“Well now, Miss Alison, I am certain the results of this trial are satisfactory to you?”
Avery turned to look at the Director and nodded. “Indeed, sir. This trial had the best outcome,”
The Director paused for a few moments then stated, “I thought I had been expressly clear when I said that I would no longer tolerate your interference in this case,”
“With all due respect, sir, I did not interfere in this case in any way. I merely attended the trial of one of the most prolific serial killers of this Timeline,”
“Then why did you wear a disguise to the trial?”
“I didn’t wish to draw unnecessary attention to myself, sir. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I best be on my way,” she stated and left before Director Port could get another word in. Avery returned to her homogenous Timeline and continued her research on Director Port while concocting a plan to secure Bea Broker into her custody once the latter was successfully imprisoned in Timeline D-3.
Avery’s research on Director Port uncovered a sinister plot that was more unnerving with each new discovery. She was in awe of Director Port’s determination to get as close as he could to the Alison family by any means necessary and discovered that his claws had sunk deeper in her family than she had initially thought. She had the Artificial Sentience construct, Ash, gather as much evidence as she could before she invited her family to a meeting in her house, coding the meeting as high priority. Avery was clear on which members of the family could attend the meeting promising to reveal her reasons for the exclusivity later.
Aurora and Leal Alison, Avery’s parents, arrived to her home first and Avery had Ash perform a consciousness scan on them both and only allowing them into her home when she was reassured that no foreign influences were detected. Aurora hugged Avery and looked worriedly at her before asking, “Sweetie, are you okay? What prompted you to call this family meeting?”
“I’ll tell you all about it once the others arrive mom, I promise,”
Leal hugged his daughter tightly and kissed the top of her head. “Whatever it is, we’re here for you, princess, okay?”
“Thanks dad,”
Avery’s doppelganger and her husband, Emre, were the next invited guests to arrive and after exchanging pleasantries, her doppelganger asked, “Me-two, I am surprised you invited me too. Won’t this cause some kind of time paradox or something?”
“I assure you, it won’t, Me-One,” Avery reassured her doppelganger.
Her brother Dewey and doppelganger’s daughter Ada, arrived later. They exchanged pleasantries before Dewey and Ada settled down and turned their attention to Avery. They took their seats and settled down, turning to face Avery.
“So, what’s this about, sis?” Dewey asked.
“Thank you all for honoring the call to gather up here. What I am about to reveal to you is rather difficult to convey especially to Ada and Dewey so kindly bear with me you guys,”
Dewey and Ada exchanged worried looks and non-verbally communicated that they had no hints as to what she was talking about. Avery took a deep breath before addressing her family.
“You see, Director Pheonix Port, isn’t who he appears to be. He is in fact, a powerful Reality Warper who has been orchestrating a sinister plot against our family. I was curious as to why such a powerful caster would target our family specifically until Ash and I discovered that Director Port is in fact descended from a powerful nemesis that Me-One, Emre, dad and mom have faced off against in the past, the Cosmo1 Rayan,” Avery revealed.
The family were all stunned into silence and exchanged worried looks. Avery’s doppelganger recovered first and asked, “Wait a minute- are you saying that the current Director of the DoD is related to the Rayan who was working for the evil Entity way back then?”
Avery simply nodded. “It took a lot of digging but I came upon that information. Rayan and the Psionic twins Sienna and Syria are alive and thriving in Cosmotopia in Timeline B-3. They have assumed the role of nobles in the land and the King of Cosmotopia is essentially just their puppet,”
Avery briefly paused to let the new information sink in before continuing, “It appears Pheonix or Rayan, who is a potent Reality Warper has the ability to influence the Universal Consciousness of his homogenous Timeline, Epsilon-25 which as you know is the future Timeline responsible for much of the technology of this Timeline and of other Timelines like it such as D-1. He is also able to assimilate and alter the consciousness of individuals with the only exceptions being Travelers and casters with abilities to perform Consciousness jumps at will,”
“Port has slowly but surely been influencing the Consciousnesses of individuals closest to us for his nefarious plan to ascend to godhood. Essentially, we’re the only ones who can stop his scheme to ascend to even more power. Why I called you all here is to impress how powerful and dangerous he is. Port is willing to do whatever it takes, including hurting the ones closest to us to attain this goal. We, therefore, need to be prepared to face off against him and eliminate him before he can achieve Apotheosis,”
The room remained silent as the family absorbed everything Avery had told them. Avery had Ash draw up a list of possible individuals that Port could have assimilated in his bid to get closer to the Alison family and the results shook the family unit to the core. Ash also displayed all the evidence gathered in Avery’s research to back-up her claims.
“Sis, this is insane! How do you know all this? How can you be sure that he has already gotten to all these people?” Dewey asked in a panic.
“Ash and I developed the skill to accurately measure Consciousness. Our knowledge has enabled us to detect Reality Warpers’ unique Consciousnesses across the Timelines. We are even able to decipher how well spread out those Consciousnesses may be. Truth be told, we were oblivious to this knowledge until some brave souls in E-25 managed to send messages back to us. Knowledge is power and the moment we were awakened to these possibilities, everything began to fall in place,”
“This isn’t confirmed though, right. It’s just Ash’s speculations right?” Dewey asked worriedly.
“I am not one to gamble but I would stake everything I have on Ash’s accurate predictions,”
Dewey shook his head vehemently dismissing the list Ash had provided as factual. Ada also doubted it, staring blankly into space trying to process everything they had learned. The two of them were barely able to register anything after the initial shock. The rest of the family did their best to console Dewey and Ada which was no easy fete. Just as the family came to terms with Avery’s groundbreaking discovery, they begun to feel as if the wind had been knocked out of them simultaneously and the scenes began to drastically shift as the family were teleported to another location.
The family found themselves trapped in a Magic circle, caged behind potent magical crystals. Tried though they might to escape the prison, they found their efforts were futile. However, the family did not have to wait long before they saw who was responsible for summoning and imprisoning them.
Pheonix Port walked up to the family shadowed by a cloaked figure until he was directly facing the family. He took one long look at their defiant faces and begun to laugh.
TO BE CONTINUED…
What nefarious plans does Director Port have in store for the Alison family? Tune in next year on 7th January 2022 to find out! Happy Holidays!
Definition of Terms:
- Cosmo- The term refers to a special race of Telepaths descended from the witch race that can telepathically compel others to their biding. Some higher level Cosmos are able to assimilate minds entirely which creates a ‘Hive-mind’ system of interconnected minds that serve the Telepath’s biding. Cosmos are well spread out in the Magical Realm but are found in greater population density in the country of Cosmotopia.
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