[fic] [Tales of Arcadia] Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet 147/?
Your Future Hasn’t Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
released 21st July, 2023
Douxie read while the downstairs door banged open and Jim hauled groceries in. He read while Barbara woke from her nap and peeked in on him. He read until Jim called upstairs that food was ready.
"Lunch, Douxie," Archie insisted, claws pressing delicately through the fabric of Douxie's black jeans, a reminder that his familiar could, and would, physically haul him to a meal if necessary.
"I--" Douxie protested.
"Lunch," Archie insisted.
Reluctantly, he set down the book and went downstairs.
Barbara was already waiting at the table. "How is it going?" she asked as Jim bustled back and forth from the kitchen.
"I feel like my head's swimming," Douxie complained as Jim set down before him a plate bearing a hearty sandwich, pickled vegetables, and crisps.
Crisps! He picked one up and admired the thinly sliced deep fried potato. It crunched between his teeth.
Sitting down at his own seat, Jim grinned at him. "Yeah, I missed modern junk food too."
"Swimming?" asked Barbara.
"I should be used to it by now," Douxie said. "There's tons of different magical traditions all around the globe, and they're all different, in different ways. Atlantean magic is just... more so."
"Like dancing backwards and in high heels," Archie put in.
Barbara flashed a smile. "Ginger Rogers."
"Precisely," Archie granted her.
"So can you do it?" Jim asked. "Atlantean magic, I mean?"
Douxie snorted. "Of course I can do it. Internalizing it, however... that's going to take time."
Jim flashed a grin. "Maybe you and Krel can help each other out with that."
Douxie resisted the urge to flip Jim off.
"I still can't believe the Akiridions are really Atlanteans," said Barbara.
"Yeah, me neither," said Jim. He smirked. "I am, however, really looking forward to seeing how they react to that news."
"I will kill him," Omega snarled. "Unless he has the Tarrons, I will kill him. And maybe even then."
Loping along beside Omega, Beta silently agreed. Tronos Madu hadn't captured the Akiridion brats and returned to the Zeron ship. Instead, he'd run, after his reappearance, to this place, which could barely be called a city, on the far side of the world from where the Tarrons had been.
He had better have the Tarrons, and just have gotten confused. If not... well, Beta would simply have to see if Voltarians could be made into Goran dust or not. It would be an interesting proposition.
"There!" Omega said. Tronos was on one of the upper trusses of the... tower. It was an ugly bare-girdered structure. Yet it was set in the middle of an open square, and apparently celebrated. The natives of this planet, Beta had concluded, had not even an ounce of style.
Claws digging into the metal, scaling the structure was child's play for the Zerons. They climbed swiftly and silently, going up different sides of the tower, to catch their errant erstwhile partner in a pincer move.
Tronos, it turned out, was sitting on a metal beam, legs dangling over the edge, staring out at the admittedly pretty colors the sky and clouds turned in the wake of this planet's setting sun.
"I don't see any Tarrons," Omega said acidly. "And you've made us waste ship's fuel, coming to this side of this mudball."
Tronos didn't react. Didn't even twitch.
"What happened with the brats?" she demanded, stalking forward. "Where are they?"
Tronos turned slowly to look at her. He scanned her up and down, as though seeing Zeron Omega for the first time. He said nothing.
"Well?!" Omega snarled, digging her claws into his collar and hauling Tronos up, face-to-face with the Voltarian.
His gaze seemed to look through her, past her. Then a smile crossed the Voltarian's face. "The life of a bounty hunter is pure," he said. "Easy. Action only, no need to search for purpose." His hand came up to rest on her cheek. "It's enviable, from a certain point of view. In violence, you are so beautiful."
Beta stared. What the fuck?
Omega yowled, her claws slashing across Tronos' cheek. "Where are the Tarrons?!" she demanded.
Tronos' expression soured. He twisted and shoved; Omega stumbled a step back. Beta tensed, ready for a fight.
"Leave me," Tronos growled, "ALONE!"
Electricity crackled along his form, was conducted by the metal of the tower.
Later, the Paris news reports would show footage of the Eiffel Tower being struck by multiple massive lightning bolts - meteorologically an extraordinary phenomenon, since the sky was clear.
Zerons Beta and Omega knew none of that, however, as their unconscious forms were blasted free of the tower, falling unconscious to crash-land in different districts of the City of Love.
"I feel like this might not go well," Jim said as they walked up the path to the Tarrons' home.
Broomstick against his shoulder, Douxie snorted. "Bets on their reactions?"
"Chaos," Archie opined. "Absolute utter interplanetary chaos."
"Pessimist," Douxie teased as Jim rang the doorbell.
"Realist," the disguised dragon shot back.
The front door to the camouflaged spaceship was wrenched open from inside by an apparent senior citizen. "Well," he said after a second, "Varvatos sees you have survived your trip through time."
"Hey, Varvatos," Jim greeted.
"Was there carnage?" he asked hopefully.
Jim grinned slow and wide. "Lots," he promised.
"Glorious! Varvatos looks forward to the tale," he said, opening the door wider to let them in.
Inside, they were met with a glowing blue energy scythe to their necks. Archie, being of a somewhat lower stature, was ignored. Quite possibly a mistake, not that she knew that. "Identify yourselves," a tall Akiridion woman demanded.
Jim grinned. "You must be Lieutenant Zadra."
Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you to possess such knowledge?"
"At ease, Lieutenant," Varvatos directed her. "These are the hooman king Jim of the Lakes, and the wizard Douxie."
"Hisirdoux Casperan," Douxie introduced himself, smiling up at the scary blue woman intent on beheading the both of them. "It's amazing to see that the real woman lives up to Krel and Aja's tales. They've been extremely complimentary."
Zadra... actually relaxed at that, blinking as she lowered her weapon. "They have spoken of you as worthy allies, also," she admitted.
Jim could practically feel charm pouring off Douxie. "I see you wield a staff," he said. "Would you care to spar, later? Perhaps with Claire, as well. She could use more teachers for how to properly use the weapon."
Zadra's eyes widened. "I would be honored," she said, with an actual blush showing brighter blue on her cheeks. She turned to the Mothership's hovering icon. "Mother! Is there a suitable sparring arena onboard?"
"How do you do that?" Jim hissed.
Douxie smirked at him. "Practice and improv."
"He's a natural flirt," Archie interpreted.
Douxie laughed. "That too."
"Anyhow." Jim addressed Varvatos. "I guess we're early? I was expecting everyone to be home by now."
"Varvatos suspects they have stopped at Stuart's truck to get burritos," the Akiridion commander grumbled.
"Ah. Can't fault their tastes. Though I do have a question I'm hoping you could answer, since paging back through the group chat has been less than explanatory." Douxie held up his quartz panic button necklace. "Steve set off his pendant?"
Varvatos snorted, and stalked over to his usual armchair, lowering himself into it. "The Palchuk boy summoned allies when Tronos Madu attacked the royals at their school."
Jim's eyes went wide. "Wait, when did that happen?"
"Yesterday," Mother replied, her icon making a swirly loop around them.
"Yes, and it is one of the things we must discuss when the others arrive." Varvatos leaned forward, hands stacked atop the head of his cane. "We have received bad news from Akiridion-5."
Jim and Douxie exchanged a glance. "I'm assuming that the bounty hunter's either defeated or not a problem for now," Jim said. "So I'm very curious about what this bad news might be."
The front door opened again. "Lucy, we are ho~me~," Aja sang out, being the first of the horde to enter the house.
"Jimbo!"
Claire hung back as Toby barreled into Jim, clinging tight.
Her heart felt like it was in the wrong place in her chest as she looked at Jim. He was back. He was back. And he looked... good, she thought. Not like he'd been living in another century. For all the reading she'd done about the sixth century in the last couple weeks, they hadn't actually known where he and Douxie had gone. But she was pretty sure that wherever it had been, it was a harder life than the modern one with supermarkets and stoves.
But Jim looked well, hugging Toby back, the pair of them wearing matching grins.
For his part, Douxie was smiling at the two boys, before being approached by Krel. Claire's own smile dimmed as she looked at her friend and teacher. Jim looked good, but Douxie mostly just looked tired. It was hard to tell how he was doing physically - he really did dress to disguise himself - but he looked heart-worn.
Though, honestly, he'd looked that way most of the time since Jim had reset time, sending them all two years back.
"Claire." Jim was in front of her now, taking her hands in his.
She smiled, instantly refocused. "You do that again," she threatened, "and I'll dump you in the Shadow Realm for a week. See if I don't."
Jim half shrugged. "I didn't mean to go skipping through time this time! Blame Merlin."
"Believe me," said Claire, "I do."
"Also," said Toby, "you have missed so many tests, dude. Don't envy you the make-up work on those."
Jim groaned.
Claire laughed. "You can borrow my study notes," she promised.
"And mine," Toby agreed.
Krel coughed into a fist. "So these happy reunions are great and all, but we do actually have some major events upcoming in a fairly tight time frame, so perhaps we should focus on those now, and worry about Jim and Douxie's time travel adventures later?"
"Fine by me." Douxie leaned back against the breakfast bar, crossing his arms and his ankles as he paid attention. Archie leapt up beside him, sitting on the counter.
"Wait, so this isn't about bounty hunter dude from yesterday?" asked Steve, on the sofa, his arm around Aja's shoulders.
Aja shook her head. "Would that this was so simple. No, my Steven, this is a far more difficult opponent before us."
"Well, that doesn't sound good." Jim took a seat on the sofa; Claire next to him. Toby took the space between Jim and Steve. After a glance around, Darci perched on his lap. Toby looked like he'd won the lottery. Claire exchanged a smile with Jim.
"Lay it on us," said Mary, taking a spot next to Douxie and Archie. Eli, the last of their group, hopped down into the conversation pit and sat on Steve's far side.
Aja and Krel exchanged a glance. "General Morando," Aja said quietly, "is on his way."
"Uh," said Jim.
"Oh crap," said Toby, his eyes wide.
"Agreed," said Douxie, wincing. "That... is not an event I'd prefer to relive."
"Morando is worse than any bounty hunter," Varvatos announced, leaning back in his chair. "Especially as he is the one who has been sending them."
"General Morando coming here is far worse," Zadra agreed. "Since, apparently, Gaylen's Core is located on this forsaken mudball of yours." She glowered indignantly, as if the mere existence of Earth was an insult.
"Yes. It is unknown yet whether that, or the royal family, is Morando's primary target." Varvatos crossed his arms and frowned at nothing in particular. "The parking drone attack may have dealt some damage to Morando's ship, but that is not to be depended on. He will be here within mere delsons."
"Uh, for those of us who don't have future memories," Darci said, raising a hand, "can we get some details on exactly what this Morando guy did that's so bad?"
"And what's this Gaylen's Core thing?" added Eli.
"It is, like, mega-bad," Toby said. "If Morando gets his hand on it, think Attack of the Fifty-Foot Alien Tyrant. Except real, and here. In Arcadia Oaks."
Steve winced. "Okay, yeah, that sounds bad."
Jim twisted to look at Douxie. Who met his eyes and nodded solemnly.
Jim huffed out a breath, turning back to look at the others. "Okay, this is going to sound weird - or maybe not, this is us, after all - but I think this really ties into Douxie and my's trip. I also think we need the full team here for this. Claire," he said, turning to look at her. "Do you feel up to making a couple portals?"
"Master Jim!" Blinky cried, embracing his son. "You're back. You look well," he added, scanning Jim from head to toe. No immediate repercussions from his time traveling were in evidence. Unlike last time, Blinky thought darkly, when Jim's experiences in the past had led him to push the accursed shard of dark magic into his chest, harnessing its fell power... only to be brought low by the evil that had caused the corruption to begin with.
Jim smiled up at him, sunny and uncorrupted. "Thanks, Blink. I missed you." A pause, then the boy added mischievously, "Though I gotta say, you were a really cute baby."
"Say whaaaaat?" demanded Toby, staring wide-eyed.
"Wait, you saw Blinky when he was just a baby?" Claire asked, looking similarly surprised.
Jim grinned at them, then at Blinky. "You were just a pebble, so I'm not sure if you'd even remember it, but did Vendel or Kanjigar ever tell you about the time you were kidnapped by Gumm-Gumms? Or Dictatious might have," he said less sanguinely.
Blinky blinked. "I have no memory of the event you mention, but, yes, I have been told about it."
"Blinky rescued?" asked Aaarrrgghh.
"Why, yes, of course! Myself and Dictatious, Kanjigar, Bagdwella, even those miscreants Rokum and Glandir, we were all rescued by a... human... knight...." Blinky's words stuttered to a halt. He stared. "Master Jim, are you saying...?"
"I'm saying that you were a really cute pebble," Jim said, still grinning. He turned his head to look at Draal. "And that your dad was protecting everyone smaller than him, even back then."
Draal seemed lost for words. "My father...?"
Jim nodded.
"Most astounding," Blinky murmured, taken aback. That Jim had rescued him. That he had trained Jim, saving his life from Bular and Gunmar, and in turn, Jim had saved him from those very same Gumm-Gumms when he was a mere infant.
"Always connected," said Aaarrrgghh, gently pushing Blinky and Jim together. "Family."
"Why, yes." Blinky's arms rested around his son again, a gentler embrace now. "I suppose that is so."
Ugh. Why were Earthlings, regardless of their species, so sentimental? Krel was practically drowning in the mush. This impression was not helped by his sister being affixed to Steve's side. Krel would be surprised if there was an atom's width of space between them.
At least she was not sitting on his lap, the way Darci had been on Toby's before they all rearranged themselves.
"Can we cut short the mushy stuff?" he demanded. "We need to formulate a plan for how to deal with General Morando!"
Douxie straightened from where he was still leaning against the breakfast bar. "Actually, I think you really need to hear what Jim and I have to say first."
"Then say it," Zadra and Varvatos said as one. They looked at one another, blinking, appearing surprised. Krel resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"It's really more your thing, Doux," Jim said, settling back down onto the sofa by Claire.
"Thanks ever so," the wizard told the king, but there was little acid in his words. He sighed and contemplated his shoes, then looked back up. "While Jim and I were in the sixth century, I met Taliesin."
Krel blinked and raised a hand. "Question. Who is Taliesin?"
"Merlin's master," Archie answered for Douxie, firming up the lie that only he, Douxie and Jim would ever know wasn't the truth. They'd even managed to skirt around it while talking with Barbara and Nancy that morning, and while Barbara had been willing to accept most things at face value, Douxie had the definite impression he would not want to face Nana Domzalski in a real interrogation. But at least she'd been willing to accept that they had reasons for what they said, and what they didn't say.
"Merlin's master," Douxie agreed, nodding. "And, perhaps more pertinently, the last Atlantean sorcerer."
Claire perked up at that.
"What is Atlantea?" asked Aja.
"Atlantis," Claire corrected. "It's a lost civilization. A Brief Recapitulation of Wizard Lore says it was the high point of wizardry on Earth, but that we don't really know much about it."
"It vanished eight thousand years ago," Blinky added, "drowned beneath the sea. Alas, human wizardry has never been the same since."
"Correct." Douxie nodded again. "But it's more than just that. Taliesin showed me why Atlantis disappeared. And it's connected to Akiridion-5."
The Akiridions all jolted.
"What do you mean?" asked Krel.
Douxie considered how to go about this. "You told me once that Gaylen was originally from Earth, right? That's why his core was hidden here."
Aja nodded. "Yes. We learned that when we were in Mama and Papa's memories of when they were giving the core to Vendel and Kanjigar."
Draal's eyes widened. "Your parents met my father...?"
"Yes." Krel nodded. "It was a long time ago."
Douxie pulled forth a whisper of magic, let illusion paint the air. "In Atlantis," he said, "there dwelled a mage named Gaylen. Who was a pupil of Taliesin's."
Jim snorted. "Is this going to become a Star Wars reference?"
"Hush," Archie told him.
Studying Gaylen's image, Douxie forced himself to continue, word by word. The only way he was getting out of this explanation was by going through it. "According to Taliesin, Gaylen was immensely talented and powerful. He was especially interested in gems and crystals," he said with a nod at Toby, who had been working his way through the Gems and Geodes books, and occasionally asking Douxie for a bit of clarification. "Gaylen was also extremely nationalistic." His mouth thinned to a line. "Fun magical fact: killing a god releases their power. It's incredibly destructive. Think Santorini. Krakatoa. The Tunguska Blast."
"I do not know what any of those are," said Aja.
"I do." Eli pushed his glasses up. "Um. They're very not good."
Douxie nodded. "Precisely."
"So, what," said Krel, "you're saying this Gaylen killed a god and that act blasted Atlantis off the face of the planet?"
Douxie shook his head. "Nothing so simple. Gaylen found a way to absorb that energy, and used it to become a god himself."
"Are you saying," asked Varvatos. His voice sounded hoarse. "That the Gaylen of Akiridion-5 came from this 'Atlantis' of yours?"
Letting Gaylen's image flicker out, Douxie nodded.
"Preposterous!" scoffed Zadra.
"Just wait. It gets worse," said Jim.
"Worse?!" demanded Varvatos, standing.
Douxie swallowed. "When he became a god... Gaylen left Earth, and took Atlantis, and all its people with him." He met Aja's gaze. "The god Gaylen, who was once a master wizard of Earth, ripped a hole in time and space and took his people forty thousand light years away, transmuting the city into a planet and the people into living crystals, infinitely perfect. And to do it, either deliberately, or as an accidental side effect, he ripped wizardry out of the rest of humanity." A shuddering breath. "We all used to be mages," Douxie said, looking around the room. "Every. Single. Human."
For a moment, you could have heard a pin drop.
"What," whispered Mary.
Then Zadra's ionic scythe was a Douxie's throat. Again. "You lie," she said coldly.
He ignored her, his eyes meeting Krel's. The Akiridion prince looked like he'd had his feet knocked out from under him.
But he also didn't look like he thought Douxie was lying.
"So is that...." Krel spoke hesitantly, his thoughts in a jumble. "Is that why magic and Akiridion technology are so compatible?"
Careless of Zadra's weapon, Douxie nodded.
"We used to be humans," Aja said softly. She looked at her hand where it was intertwined with Steve's. Then she smiled up at the blond oaf. For his part, Steve looked like he didn't know what to make of the information.
"You mean, I could have been a wizard?" Eli demanded. "Quidditch could have been real?"
"Please, my royals!" pleaded Zadra. "You cannot believe the words of this wizard!"
Varvatos snorted. "Does it bother you, Lieutenant, to think that our world and people were created by a single-minded being who had no moral qualms about his actions?"
"But--"
"You would be wise to study up on Seklos and her reasons for her actions," he said. His eyes met Douxie's. "Varvatos, for one, believes this wizard."
"You weren't created by him," Jim said, drawing all eyes to himself. "I mean, altered, sure. But he didn't make Akiridions from nothing. You already existed. He wasn't your creator."
"Blasphemy," whispered Zadra.
Unexpectedly, Mary snorted. "You don't have to believe him," she pointed out to Zadra. "It's just words, right? And anyone can say words."
"Mary!" Darci chided.
Mary shrugged. "Nobody has to believe anybody else," she said. "If her religion, or... sense of identity, or whatever, depends on her thinking this Gaylen guy is some kind of all-powerful creator, she can do that. Land of the free, home of the brave, right?"
"Mary has a point," put in Claire. "We're not the thought police."
"What are 'thought police'?" asked Aja. "Do they really arrest people for thinking things?"
Darci snorted. "There are some people who'd sure love to. But no. Nobody gets arrested just for thinking, or believing something. It's only action that's... well, actionable."
"Most sensible." Varvatos settled back into his armchair. "Lieutenant. Stop threatening the wizard."
Zadra looked right, looked left, her face a rictus of agony and indecision. Then she whirled and stalked off.
"There now, honey, looks like you've had a bit of an upset--" Lucy tried to soothe her, approaching with a plateful of cookies.
"Do not touch me!" Zadra snapped at the blank, and vanished around the corner.
"Who knew Zadra had such firm religious beliefs?" Krel mused aloud.
"Doux," Jim said to the wizard, who was massaging his throat where the ion blade had been pressed against it. "What about the other thing?" He nodded toward Krel, which... what?
Douxie grimaced. "That's kind of private. Or personal."
"What is personal?" asked Krel.
Douxie's grimace grew. Then he sighed, shoulders slumping. "I'm not sure you're going to be happy about this, Krel, but... if Atlanteans were all wizards, that has to have been transformed somehow also, and carried on down the line." A pause, as though Douxie was searching for the right words. Finally, he said softly, "I don't know exactly what magic looks like as expressed in Akiridions, but... Krel, I'm pretty sure you're a wizard."
Krel looked at Douxie blankly. Because he could not have heard what he had just thought he'd heard. But there it was in his eidetic memory, clear as the tone ringing off a crystal shard.
I'm pretty sure you're a wizard.
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone for being understanding about me missing a week of posting due to multiple wasp stings. And thank you all for so many lovely, understanding messages and comments. The quote about Ginger Rogers doing everything Fred Astaire did, backwards and in high heels, comes from a 1982 Frank and Ernest comic strip by Bob Thaves. My personal favorite riff on that line adds on that she was doing so while wearing dresses that had up to twenty-five pounds of beadwork and weighting on them! And she made it look effortless; truly an icon. Tronos Madu's shout of "Leave me ALONE!" is highly based on my six-year-old when he's unhappy. Someday, I hope he will laugh about it. And, finally, my Wonderful Husband, who serves as my editor, wanted me to point out that, historically, Darci is not correct that there are no thought police. But given that she's a modern teenager who has grown up in a liberal Californian town, I think the way she says it is accurate to her point of view.