Chapter 39: Destruction

Storm -- 2102

Summer was nearly at an end for us in Federation.

We were worried about the two missing boxes, but considering the size of Amity and past experiences, I knew they could be hard to find. In my case, I had no link to the boxes. They were not my type of magical boxes. Raina and her mob had linked together, but they couldn’t feel the boxes either.

We decided that it would take a Queen Wizard to find them and we didn’t have one on this planet. We could only hope that they weren’t claimed or that they didn’t have entities anymore. Lee wasn’t sure if she could claim my decad as one of her’s. Her decads were on planets that were at least in the same solar system.

She hadn’t put Lord Wizards on Earth or the new planet the Earthlings were moving onto. She didn’t plan to put any on them in the near future either. Earth and its habitats on the Moon and Mars still had more problems than she wanted to know about. She also had the issue that none of her three current decads were complete, as some of the claimants were still too young.

She sent me some information on how to make a Queen’s box for a decad. She said she couldn’t help with an Empress for me as even Trixy didn’t have that information and she had the oldest books they possessed. It didn’t help the sextet, as Lee had no knowledge of their type of Queen’s box.

Bron wasn’t much help, and even the material we accessed from the downed ships didn’t assist us. One book indicated that only a completed sextet could make a Queen’s box. We had one of those but no idea what a Pix Queen’s box even looked like.

Ben and I got together, and we went over Lee’s notes. Wizard Rah had documented his efforts meticulously. We had to decipher his, ‘what worked and what didn’t’ notes, to summarise how to make the box. It was a lot more complicated than we liked.

Rah also had a lot of notes of things he tried but wasn’t sure if they were necessary or not. Like him, we had no idea either. We did dismiss a couple of his adaptions towards the ends of his notes but not all. The first thing I need to do was collect the items.

“One thing I get is that you need to pick a precious gem and a metal to base the boxes around,” Ben said.

“Would it need to be a precious gem from here or just one I believe is precious from my home planet?” I replied.

“Well, Lee’s gem is jade. On Earth, it was precious, and Rah was from Earth, so I guess it wouldn’t matter. Amity seems to be similar in chemical makeup to Earth, so the same types of gems and minerals are probably just as rare here,” he said.

I had to agree. The items I had made so far had gems I knew from home on them too. They had all worked so I just had to pick a gem I liked, I guessed. “Come with me,” Ben said as he stood up. He touched me when I stood and blinked me to a cavern.

“What is all this?” I asked as looked around.

“It seems that it’s all mine. The others couldn’t break the spells but I could so they said it was mine. The wizard who put it here must have been an Earth Wizard as he seemed to have collected just about every type of element on this planet he could, bar radioactive ones,” Ben said.

I walked around the room and touched each metal and element. I saw an empty container that resembled a 20-litre bucket with a small scoop in it and picked it up. I walked around the collection of elements and small bars of precious and not so precious metals again, and I collected a bit of this and a bit of that until the bucket was full.

I placed it on one of the boxes in the middle of the room. I drew my wand and combined the elements into a soup, and as I drew the liquid out of the box, it formed into a series of items. The metal had a greeny-silver tone, which Ben and I liked.

I made a seven pointed crown with one point that was longer than the others were. On six of them, I inscribed a power symbol but left room for a gem above it. The second only had short points. The necklaces were made up of fine flat twisted links with seven diamond-shaped pieces of metal.

Six of the flat pieces of metal were about 25mm to a side but had a longer length to the set of points that were connected to the links. The seventh was one was about 30mm to a side. The second set had slightly smaller triangles. The two rings were left unadorned.

I then formed a wand like my own and a second that was a little wider at one end and 35cm long when shrunk down. It would extend to 2m. I then formed two boxes that looked like jewellery chests. They were about 40cm long by 36cm square, and the top 8cm formed a half cylinder lid. The second two were 50cm long by 40cm square and flat.

I went back and selected a slightly different combination of elements. I then formed another set of items and four boxes. The silver toned metal had a pale pink hue. I decided it was an interesting metal and as unique as the first set was.

The crowns were a little different as instead of points I formed a stylised symbol from the metal like on the sextet’s diadems in their place and a rounded point in front. The symbols on the second were not as large nor sat as high.

“I need gems,” I said to Ben. He grinned at me and took me into the next room. He waved his wand at a blank wall, and it dissolved in front of me. Laid out on a multitude of tray’s were crystals and precious materials that could be broken and cut to form gems of a huge variety.

As I walked down the rows of items, I noticed some had been cut, but most were not. I didn’t select any of the cut gems but collected on two empty trays the crystals and precious items that represented the two types of wizards. I then selected a rare red beryl crystal I knew of as a Roselle crystal, and one of what I knew was called a Zoisite crystal that had a green-grey hue.

I told Ben how many I needed of each item and a rough size for them. I told him to pick whatever cut he felt appropriate. He replied that David would be the better choice as he was the Earth Wizard of their sextet.

“No, we need Raina and Sarah,” I said and blinked them to us.

Raina wasn’t real happy as she was expecting to go into labour any day and had been resting. I told her she needed to help Ben shape the items. Sarah just shrugged. Ben found us some stools, and Raina helped him as I gave them some instruction to help the process along.

I smiled at the odd looks they the girls kept giving me, but they did as I asked. While Raina was shaping the Roselle crystals, I did the Zoisite crystals, and I got Ben and Sarah to shape the Quaz crystals from our stash rather than collecting fresh crystals.

Once the gems were all laid out and we were happy, I got them to join with me, and I placed the gems on the bling and the boxes. They looked pretty bloody good even if I do say so myself. My three helpers just looked at the items astounded.

Lee had told me that Rah had also made her a cape, so I went and rummaged in the boxes Ben directed to me and found four plain capes and prettied them up adding small gems and using different metals to alter their hues. I even used the material to line the crowns, so they matched.

I rustled up some clear crystals for crystal balls and some Mads to be the books, and I placed all the items into the appropriate boxes.

I told Raina to call her lot, and I called Daniel, Ulu, Olivia, and Penny. The room became a little crowded as they joined us.

I then rearranged them, so Ben touched one pink box and Raina the other box. I had David and Kelli stand on one side of the pink boxes, and Kale and Selwyn on the other. I put Sarah on the other end, so she touched one of the grey boxes and Ulu and Olivia on one side and Penny and Daniel on the other.

Raina and I stood in the gap in the middle. I wanted her to touch one of the pink boxes and one of the grey ones like me. Everyone was to touch a box and the person beside them. We were linked in the form of a figure eight.

Once I was happy, I touched my forehead to Raina’s and performed some spells on the boxes. I vaguely heard others add spells, to my surprise. I can’t really tell you what happened next, as I seemed to go into a sort of trance during the proceedings.

When we compared notes after the process, the others weren’t any the wiser than I was. The facts were that we were all dazed, thought we had heard a lot of other excited voices and were highly aroused, wasn’t disputed.

We all looked at the boxes. “What now?” Raina said staring at the pink box she still had her hand on.

I grinned at her, “Open your box, Roselle Queen.”

They all looked at me shocked.

Ben looked at the box he was still touching and then at Raina. “Oh so cool, I’m to be your paramour. See, I always said you were more powerful than me, my love.”

David said, “What about our sextet?”

I shrugged, “I guess you’re going to have to go shopping again. At least I won’t have to.”

“Why not?” Sarah asked.

“Kim will claim my box and Lindell his,” I said with a big grin. I still wasn’t sure why I had picked Sarah over Lindell and even Kim for that matter, but somehow it just seemed the way it should be. I could only guess it had to do with the way we had paired up more recently.

Sarah chuckled, and Ulu groaned.

“Hey! If I become a Pix Queen then I should be able to fix Crystal’s box,” Raina said happily.

“Well that was my idea,” I told her smugly.

“The only thing is that it might have to wait a couple of weeks,” Raina said.

“Why,” I asked her.

“Well since I’m in labour and about to have twins, I just might be a bit busy,” Raina said.

“Claim the box now,” I told her urgently.

She looked at me, sucked in a breath and told the box to open. She screamed when her bling disappeared off her, and I quickly grabbed the crown and placed it on her head. She sucked in several breaths and hugged me tightly as I quickly placed the necklace over her head and then the ring on her hand.

Her breathing became less laboured. Kale had quickly placed a hand on her, and her pain lessened with us both being in contact with her. Unlike me, she didn’t have the shifting genes or the controller genes before she claimed the box, but I now knew that she did, as did we all.

It had been a sudden wrench to her body and the babies when the items had left her. I looked at Ben as I hugged my daughter. “Ben, claim your box and then you, Kale and Selwyn can take her back to the citadel,” I said.

Ben nodded, and Kelli and David touched him as he told his box to open. He grunted in pain at his transformation, and David quickly placed the smaller crown on Ben’s head and then the other items on his person.

Ben blinked a couple of times and then hugged his friends to thank them. He then came to help Kale with Raina, and the four of them and the boxes disappeared.

“Wow, I’m going to be a granddad!” I said to the others in excitement.

They all chuckled, and Sarah and Ulu hugged me. Ulu said, “We will help while you claim your box, Storm.”

I thanked them and claimed my box. It is a very weird feeling when your magical items disappear from you. It is as if a small part of you goes with them. And the pain of separation is quite intense. At least I didn’t have to undergo the transformation Raina and Ben did.

I felt Sarah’s love, and even Ulu’s surround me. He had become a dear friend and like a brother to me, due to what we had been through in the past. Ulu happily placed the crown on my head and them the necklace over it.

Sarah placed the ring on me and handed me my wand. I collected the new Mad. Basically, it had the information my old Mad had on it, but I had linked the old one to the Lord Wizard’s box.

We then helped Sarah claim her paramour’s box. I contacted Kim to tell him not to worry and that we were fine. I’d come and see him, Lindell and Bonny to explain in a few minutes. “Crap!” I said to Sarah. “I have to make a consort’s box for Bonny.”

The others chuckled, and Daniel said, “You might wish to make a few spares. You can have ten consorts you know.”

“But I have Kim and Lindell too,” I replied.

“No, I don’t think they count. They were already your spouses. Lee said Sean didn’t get a consort’s box because he was able to claim her old Lord Wizard’s box,” Daniel told me.

“But the Paramour’s box took Ben?” I replied.

“I think it might be different rules for different sets. Plus their sets are bonded, and ours aren’t,” Daniel said. “How did you make a Pix Queen’s box anyway?”

“I didn’t really,” I replied. “I just made two Queen’s boxes, but I made sure they had the different gems, metals and the patterns on the lids as Lee had added to Rah’s notes. Trixy had found a kid’s school book that had a drawing of the two sets in it, so I used them.”

“It seems to have worked anyway as the Roselle set was happy to accept Ben and Raina. I felt that they had to form the gems, as the Pix sets seem to like different styles in how they are cut to decad gems. I felt that the two boxes were different after they were spelled.”

“I agree,” said David. “As soon as I touched Ben’s crown I knew he was our Queen’s paramour. It felt very right, and I could feel my entities delight and contentment that we now had our Queen.”

“So how does that affect anyone else if they have items from a different decad or a sextet on Amity?” Kelli asked.

“Initially, it doesn’t,” a man said when he appeared in the room with us.

I felt compelled to kneel, and we all fell to one knee and bowed our heads.

“Bugger me!” the man exclaimed when we all dropped. “Stand, please, I can’t have my parents kneeling to me. No, it’s just not right.”

We all looked at each other and stood back up. “So who are you and who are your parents?” I had to ask as I looked at the man. He was bloody tall, I did know that much. He was at least 220cm and solidly built with rich auburn hair. He was also speaking English with an Australian accent, not Genteli.

He smiled at Kelli and said, “Hi mum.” He then moved over to her, and he bent down and gave her a gentle hug and kiss on her cheek. He stepped back and took David’s hand. “I have waited a bloody long time to meet you, Dad,” he said and then pulled David into a bear hug.

I had to chuckle and said, “Bloody Zara.”

The man released a shocked David and grinned at me. He shook his head. “Not this time. Torus,” he said.

His grin broadened at our confusion. “Torus on Hades?” David asked in surprise.

“Yes, she and her daughter Tory designed my people and me. We call ourselves Paragons. I was the first child to incorporate David and Kelli’s DNA with Tory’s controller DNA, and she tossed in some shifter DNA for good measure. Tory called me Mikal James.”

“I have a sister who is closely related, but more like a cousin, I guess, as we don’t have exactly the same DNA. Tory found David’s distinctively human DNA formed a strong building block, and Kelli supplied some excellent Grandteli genes. Sarah and her sisters are similarly designed. By the way, Zara sends her love.”

David chuckled as I asked Mikal, “So does this mean things will settle down now that we have two different Queens and an Emperor?”

“Not quite,” he replied cryptically. “It seems you have another decad on this planet posing as pirates and they also have a Queen. Storm, we will have to take your team to Saran, as Wizard Ulu is due to get some unwelcome visitors. JJ said that the ships are due to land in Brina sometime tomorrow morning, so you do have a little time to prepare.”

“Before we go, however, I think you need fixing,” He said as he walked up to me. He gently placed one hand on my temple and the other on my stomach. I felt a soft warmth infuse my body and then a wetness down below. I shuddered, and he chuckled softly.

“Sorry, I think you may need to get your consorts to give you a fix too since you just became a Queen. You should now be able to do what I just did to fix your other wizards little genetic anomaly. Tory and Zara’s first efforts were not one hundred percent correct with the placement of the controller DNA in the people they produced.”

He walked around each of us and touched us. He stopped when he got to Daniel. “You are not one of mine,” Mikal said frowning at him.

“Not that I know of,” Daniel replied with a cheeky grin.

“But you have come in contact with one of my children,” Mikal replied.

“How many kids do you have here?” I asked him.

“One that I know of. However, I don’t know how old my daughter is or even if she is still alive. I came here accidentally when I was eighteen of my years and only a mage, and I don’t know if she survived. I believe I was in East Aurum. Ryka and I had a run in with a mage called Dolton. He used berries to drug us and coerced Ryka away from me. She was carrying my child when I escaped through an underground river.”

“Pip,” Daniel said excitedly. “Yes, I can see the resemblance. That explains a lot if you’re her dad. Oh, isn’t she in for a surprise. She is my wife and apprentice wizard. That prick, Dolton, is still around and causing us grief too.”

Mikal smiled. “I am relieved she is alive. I’ve worried about her for a long time, but I’ve not been able to come back here before now. Our planet was in a time flux. David’s efforts when he made Tory and her terraforming, changed things on Torus. With me having used the Portal, it has causes other changes that Zara is investigating with Mage Devin.”

“You mean that crafty old wizard is still alive,” I replied with delight.

Mikal chuckled. “Afraid so. He lives on Zara with his new family. Speaking of family. I believe I have a couple of your kids with me, Storm. We may wish to return to Nickel City as I believe they are about to land.”

“Ulu, you may wish to return home and warn your villages of the ships that are coming. As soon as you see them call us, as I believe there are several wizards and their apprentices aboard, and you shouldn’t deal with them alone. I don’t know if they can teleport so, please add these spells to your shield,” Mikal said and touched Ulu.

Ulu nodded after Mikal stepped back. “Thank you, I’ll go warn my people, and I’ll keep in touch with JJ.”

“They are using some sort of shield on their ships that are making it hard for JJ to track them so eyes on the ground would be good,” Mikal replied.

Ulu nodded and disappeared.

We teleported to Nickel City.

I excused myself and returned home to get Kim, Lindell and Bonny. I also collected the boxes and presented them to Kim and Lindell. They were both a bit shocked, to put it mildly. I informed Bonny I’d have to make her a new box since she was considered one of my consorts.

I told them Raina was having her babies and they were all excited. I also explained that we had some new guests to meet so we didn’t muck about and headed to Nickel City. I was glad I had a heap of crystals in my satchel to tide me over.

We arrived to find there were two new ships in the hanger. I was surprised by how many people Mikal had with him. It wasn’t hard to tell that two of the people with him were like him. The twins Angel and Kerri were both striking with their dark blue hair and identical looks.

He said that the next five were Zara’s creations, but with his adaptions, so they were also Paragons. The three ladies that he said were his shields were equally impressive with their obvious shifter genes but Grandteli height. The next two were the shorter women, who also displayed the shifter genes and were apparently my daughters-in-law.

The two people that had me in shock were my sons. They were both taller than I, and damn fine looking men if I do say so myself. I think my condition had them all a little shocked. They were expecting to meet their dad, and I was stuck in female form.

We had a good chuckle about bloody shifters and their tendency to pass on their genes to wizards. Apparently, Mikal had no qualms in upgrading their genetic makeup either. The boys told me at least this way they could keep up with their wives. Neither seemed that unhappy with the acquisition of them.

I was sure that I’d learn more later about how they were truly coping. I know us people from Earth, who now called Amity home, still had the odd moment when our old life would cause a momentary regression into to what might have been and thoughts about what our old friends were doing.

We were interrupted by Crystal when she came out to announce that mother and babies were doing fine. We got the particulars, and Kale and Selwyn were happy that the birth went well. She was amused by Ben, as he was simply ecstatic.

She said she left the besotted father staring at his babies and Raina was resting. Kale said that they would bring the babies out in a little while, once they could prise them out of Ben’s arms. We chuckled at, David as he was cuddling his new daughter, Trista.

Kim and I grinned at each other, and he hugged me. He was holding Sky, and we knew we were still besotted with her. I knew he was delighted I carried his child and he was excited that Sky would get playmates sooner rather than later.

Sarah introduced Crystal to her brothers, and it was heart-warming to see the three of them hug. The boys were delighted to finally meet her, and they were looking forward to meeting their other sister, Raina. I hoped they didn’t miss the rest of their families too much and knew we would have to talk about the changes in their lives being so dramatic.

I looked over to see Mikal staring at Crystal. He seemed a little pale, and I wondered what was wrong. She turned when Sarah went to introduce them and gave him a funny look. “It was you in the crystal wasn’t it?” she said.

He nodded at her. “Why didn’t you try to contact me again?” she asked him with a frown.

“I did try, many times, but the time fluctuations never let me contact you again,” he told her.