Chapter 1

The blackness of teleportation surrounded the Phoenix, reminding her of her very first experience in time travel. She'd tried to escape from everything then, too. But, not understanding the principles of wormholes, she had quickly become lost, and only Béla had come searching for her... 'So many thousands of years ago... '

Lisa angrily shook the thought out of her head, only to have it replaced by memories of Tia and Tara swirling joyfully around her, exuberant in their newfound power and impatient to tell her everything they'd learned. Lisa clamped down hard on that memory, too. 'They're human! That's all they are! Just a bunch of fucking Earthers!'

But still, the hard rage she felt was now weakened, and she hated herself for allowing those memories to affect ... no, INFECT... to infect her!

Lisa gritted her teeth, every muscle in her body braced against the nearly completed thought. She surprised herself as a brilliant, raging flame turned her body into pure energy. The energy discharge opened up the wormhole and Lisa tumbled out into a bright blue sky filled with sunlight.

The air ignited around her as she fell, and Lisa quickly absorbed her scattering fire back into solid flesh. As she took in her surroundings, Lisa spread her arms and legs to correct her tumbling, then levitated, slowing her downward plunge so that she gently touched down, her bare toes delicately squishing into the spongy surface.

'I wonder how far back I've traveled?' she thought, using her mind as well as her eyes to look around at her new surroundings as she wriggled her toes against the cool wetness of the almost alien surface. 'I have definitely spent too much time in New Eden, ' she decided as she delighted in a deep breath of fresh, living air – warm, moist air alive with the tepid, myriad scents of life.

That deep breath nearly ignited Lisa's body all over again as rich, oxygenated air flooded into her lungs, nearly causing her to swoon as her brain reacted to the suddenly oxygen-enriched blood. She staggered for a moment until she adjusted to the thick humidity and the nearly forgotten straight-up-and-down pull of Earth's gravity. The emptiness of her surroundings threw her off balance mentally as well, as life teemed all around, buzzing, flitting, growing green and tall. But ... no thoughts pressed against her mind – no thoughts at all...

She was surrounded by enormous trees that towered high over her head, held upright by thick, bulbous trunks – if that was what they were. As she gazed at the nearest giant, she frowned, trying to grasp what was different about these oversized... 'This is a fucking weed! This isn't a tree! And it's a hundred feet high ... Just how far back am I?'

There was no answer, of course. No Praetor existed in this time to respond to her question, and that realization created another rift in her wall of anger. There really was no one here. She was completely alone. 'Good!' she thought, savagely slamming her mind closed and amending her furious thought to: 'Good riddance to them all!'

Lisa flinched at a quick movement at the edge of her vision, then ducked as a terrifying creature droned over, just missing her head. It burst into flame as she angrily sought it out with her Phoenix power, and a brief glimpse of enormous gossamer wings vanished into ash.

'Damn! I killed it!' she realized, appalled at her carelessly wanton murder of a beautiful, innocent creature. 'I'm sorry ... I didn't mean to... '

Hunching down, she looked around, feeling guilty as she searched for other creatures like the one she'd just flamed. There was a wide river nearby, with long cattails and plants growing along the bank, as well as dozens of darting insects.

'A big, giant dragonfly – that's all it was... '

She tried to remember her studies of ancient Earth, and could remember only her disinterest and boredom with the subject. But, way back in prehistoric times, there were giant insects and funny little troglo-bites or something that lived in the muddy shallows of a great and ancient sea. The thought made her feel that she was a long, long way from home – another chink in her protective armor. But...

'I'm in a world filled with giant bugs... '

Rather than making her feel more isolated, the thought excited her and she delved a bit deeper to find an erotic image she had used in her youthful fantasies – making love to a giant scorpion. An eager bubble of mirth shivered through her body and escaped her throat as she realized that... 'There might be giant scorpions here! All I have to do is look for them!'

It occurred to her that scorpions probably lived underground, or under rocks, so they were likely to be further from the river and the dampness under her feet. She turned away and began seeking with her mind.

'Life forms ... cool, mindless, insect life forms ... where are you? Come play with me... '

Just thinking about confronting one of those magnificent stingers curling up over the back of a giant enormous scorpion made her stomach tighten and nipples rise in excitement – or maybe that was from the constant scratching of these primitive fronds against her naked flesh as she searched.

Another buzzing sound and something delicate brushed against her shoulder blade, then bit her. Deep! Lisa yelped, then twisted around, trying to grab the thing, but her arms didn't bend that way, and it was really sucking on her!

Frustrated and angry all over again, Lisa flared her body and was rewarded with the stench of roasted bug as the vile bloodsucker burst into flame, then crumbled into ashes.

'Wow! What are these things made of? There's nothing left when they burn ... What if everything is flammable here? I'd better be careful... '

Curious, she stepped through the tall growth to the nearest 'tree', put her hand on it and flamed. The tree quickly caught, and Lisa had a difficult time pulling all the fire back inside her. The knee-high brush, however, remained cool – although it smoked a little in response to the heat she generated.

'Humph! Fireproof grass and flaming trees. Strange combination. Most likely, the grass is just too wet to burn, ' she decided. 'Good thing, I guess, 'cause I'd've probably started a forest fire by now... '

She continued her exploration, tramping noisily through the brush, and not finding anything. No giant scorpions, no little insect minds hiding beneath a rock from the strange, giant invader to their orderly little world. Lots of strange plants, some with exotic flowers with no scent to them at all. The smell of "wet" permeated everything. 'Maybe flower smells haven't been invented, yet... '

Tired of pushing through the undergrowth, Lisa noticed a clearing up ahead and sighed in relief as she stepped into warm sunlight. She closed her eyes for a few seconds as she rested, grateful for the respite from pushing though sharp grasses or thorny growth.

As she took another step into the clearing, she nearly fell. Her foot was buried ankle-deep in mud. Catching her balance, she pushed down with her other foot, sinking nearly up to her knees in the soft mud. 'Fucking quicksand! Well, now I know why there's nothing growing here... '

Levitating, she easily freed herself and looked down at her muddy feet, realizing that her feet had felt really great buried in that drippy muck after traipsing through all that prickly, unfriendly undergrowth.