|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- DEER EXPRESS--CUP 14--"JAGGED ARC OF BLACKNESS" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Deer Express  ||  -------> (Cup SRde014, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Before Arbhay could answer, a large, balding man came up to them. "What's going on guys?" he said. Lemon regarded the man with contempt. "None of your business, I'm sure." Arbhay smiled, but held himself back from laughing. The man looked confused. "No problem." he said, looking at the two in turn. "Just wanted to let you know that Mr. Stanley is nearby." "I care nothing of you or your Mr. Stanley." Lemon said in a nasty tone. "Get away from me!" "Hey..." the guy said with a smile, laughing--as in, what are you gonna do about it, little woman? "Yah!" Lemon yelled as she hit the man in the side of his head with the back of her fist. He flew sideways and slammed into an office partition, which his momentum knocked over. This cause a chain reaction of about half-a-dozen partitions. In ten seconds, all was still again. "Fuck!" Lemon exclaimed. "I knew it! I knew that if I used my powers too much I'd start turning evil again! Fuck!" A group of workers in business suits gathered around the wreckage and looked at Lemon. She glowered at them, then turned to Arbhay. "What did you say about this place--about it not being real. Please tell me this murder I just committed wasn't real." "I..." Arbhay said. "I can't say for sure. It's just, my best guess is that we're... somewhere... BETWEEN... dream and reality." "I don't think so." Lemon said, shaking her head. "Not at all." Arbhay paused, feeling the silence all around them like a terrible pressure. "Why?" he finally said. "Let me shred." she said. She swept her arm upward in a swift motion, and it left a dark tear in the air. She stepped back from it. "Look." she said. Arbhay furrowed his brow--a lot easier to do with a human face than with a deer one. "What did you do there?" "I've fouled this place with an infernal maw." she said. "Huh?" "If we're being manipulated, whoever's doing it is gonna start to feel pretty bad." "Why?" "Because of the nature of the shred." Lemon said, staring distantly at the jagged arc of blackness in the air. "But who would be doing that?" "I don't know. All I know is, if he or she is listening--YOU FEEL THAT? THAT'S JUST ONE! I CAN DO AS MANY AS I WANT. NOW STOP THIS!" Arbhay exhaled sharply, shocked at the unearthly tone in Lemon's voice--weirded by the human vocal chords she was currently employing. Her words echoed, and all the people were looking at her in fascination. Then suddenly, the two heard a voice from behind them. "HEY!" They turned around--to see Granticaine Chug Perion standing there, holding a massive rifle. "You..." Lemon said. "You--Daptin's friend!" "I am Daptin's friend." Granticaine said, confused. Lemon squinted as she glowered at him. "You're behind this?" "Behind what, woman?" Lemon smiled. "Of course you don't recognize me. I'm in this terrific little human body for the time being. But I know you. And you know me." Granticaine raised his eyebrows as Lemon continued. "Yeah, you know me. I'm Lemon." "Lemon--THE Lemon, from Yellowhaus?" "Yup." "Interesting." "Why is it interesting?" Lemon said, regretting the tone of begging in her voice. "Because," Granticaine said, "you are in Gnoboslast." "What?" Arbhay said sharply, taking a step forward. "Gnoboslast." Granticaine repeated. "What the heck is that?" Lemon asked. "I heard that name once." Arbhay said. "In a madman's dream. He... he summoned me with an archaic version of the chant. And he kept... he kept begging me for... for this thing called... called Gnoboslast. I... I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he just... he just suddenly woke up and I never heard anything from him again. But I never reported the incident. I don't know why, I just..." Lemon walked in angry, toward kid in tantrum strides, up to Granticaine. "So what is this, huh? The world between dream and reality? Dreality, as some people call it?" she said, looking back at Arbhay. "No." Granticaine said simply. "So what is it?" Lemon said through tensed mouth, stressing each word. "It's wheverythingsusk. That's the only word that comes to mind to describe it." Granticaine said. Lemon muttered a spell, and her eyes widened in scandal. "Hah! It makes sense now!" "You make sense of this place?" Granticaine asked softly. "No idiot. I just see the outline. How powers clash. Serious infernal fires stumbling into the world of deers and dreams. That slash, that jolt, opens up something deeper." "Yes." Granticaine said, dawning. "That sounds similar to what happened to us--back in the cupslip world--when the powers of Aconck technology collided with the force of the Cup of Coffee." Lemon started to feel dizzy. "I feel like we're in some sort of dank, musty wine cellar." she said. "Silent and echoless." "I have that same feeling." Arbhay said. "Well I know something you don't." Granticaine said. "And the way leads to Butterscotch Hold." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----