Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 22:41:18 EDT
From: Rune Therin <mist_dark@hotmail.com>
Subject: Nsync Saga, Part 5

I've returned with another installment.  Hope you guys and gals enjoy it.
Thanks to everyone who's e-mailed me.  I think I've responded to them all,
I hope I have at any rate.  Anybody who I didn't get to I'm sorry.  For
those of you haven't e-mailed me but want to my e-mail address is
Mist_dark@hotmail.com

The disclaimer part.  These kind of get annoying now and again, don't they?
First off, this story isn't supposed to imply anything about the members of
Nsync.  If any of them are gay it's their business, not mine.  Parts of
this story are based of the RPG Rifts.  All trademarks belong to Palladium
books and Kevin Siembieda.  If you are too young in you area or it's
illegal in your area to read this story, please leave.  This story contains
homosexual themes, please leave if that offends you.

I want to thank Kenitra, LHW, Aphrodite, Kief, and a number of other
people.  You guys are great with your comments and suggestions and whatnot.
As for good stories, try BSB and Nsync Chronicles, Millennium Love, Nsync
and the Vamps, and Choices.  There are many many others, but those are just
a few.

Enjoy,
Rune

PART FIVE


	Nydia threw the crystal across the room in frustration.  It hit the
far wall and shattered.  She'd been attempting to divine the JC's location
for hours.  She knew that Damek had his hands full watching Joey and Chris,
but she hated trying to divine things.  It wasn't her area of expertise.
She could do it, and she had done it before, but she hated it.  She sighed
and slumped forward on the table.  Her beautiful face marred by the
exhaustion she was feeling.  For a few moments she just lay there, resting.
Her thoughts drifted back over the last little while.

	She had successfully cast the spells that let her traverse the
dimensions and bring back the people she needed.  It had taken her over a
century to put together those complex spells, and she hadn't been sure they
would work until she had cast them.  Even though she had known she needed
sleep, Nydia hadn't been able to get any the night before she jumped
dimensions.  She had just been too excited about the spells.  She still
hadn't recovered from the expenditure of energy that trip had used.  To top
it off, she'd been running herself ragged trying to tie up loose ends.  It
was beginning to take its toll on her, and she knew that if she didn't get
some rest soon, she would just shut down.

	"Get up Nydia," she chided herself.  With a heavy sigh she heaved
herself to her feet.  "You can sleep when you figure out a way to find
Josh."

	She started pacing the room.  Divination wasn't working.  She had
combed every landmass this planet had to offer.  And hadn't found a trace.
She had even consulted a wand of divination about JC.  The wand informed
her that he was on the planet somewhere.  Since the wand only answered yes
and no questions, she didn't bother trying to figure out where he was on
the planet by using it.

	"Let's see," Nydia muttered.  "Joey and Chris appeared to the north
in North America.  Justin appeared in Mexico with me.  Lance and Josh are
unaccounted for.  I wonder."

	Nydia pulled a piece of paper from one of her blank books and
started tracing a map of the world on it.  She drew a dot in the upper
regions of Mexico and another one in the lower part of Canada.  She sighed
deeply as she scanned the rest of the map.

	"Damn, if there was any pattern to this I need another person to
see it."  She set the paper on the table and resumed pacing.  "I know he's
alive and on the planet somewhere.  What am I missing?

	"Maybe I'm looking for the wrong thing."  She started pacing more
quickly.  "If there's someone else involved in protecting Josh, they may be
able to block my scans.  Though that means they not only know about us they
know I'm looking for Josh."

	She sat back down and grabbed another crystal.  She had learned
after her first few attempts at divination, that it was always a good idea
to have several implements close at hand.  She'd go through at least half
of the crystals before she was satisfied.

	Her mind focused on a picture of Josh.  Instead of looking for him
directly, as she had been doing earlier, she looked for magical resonance
surrounding him.  The type of ambient magical energy that would result from
cloaking.  She started searching North America.  When she had thoroughly
swept it she moved on to South America.  From there she moved onto the
other continents.  When she finished sweeping the globe she broke her
trance.  She looked once at the crystal before hurling it to join the
others around the room.

	"This isn't working.  What can't I see?"  She looked at her map
again.  She was too tired and knew it.  "I'll pay Atlantis a call tomorrow.
The market might have something that will help me.  Or I might even find
Josh there."  Nydia instantly knew she didn't want Josh in Atlantis.  That
place would tear him apart.

	Wearily Nydia started collecting the remaining crystals.  She
stopped part way through and decided that they could wait until morning.
She touched a panel by the door as she left the room and the lights went
out.





	Damek adjusted his position on his perch.  He had been watching the
woman training Chris and Joey.  Evelyn.  He had heard that name some where
before.  He'd just caught it when the three of them had come out into the
yard.  She was a striking woman.  Damek wished he could remember where he
knew her from.

	"Master."

	He clicked his beak at the elemental he had summoned earlier.  The
creature was invisible to most eyes.  He could see it clearly.  Clearly in
the sense he could see the creatures outline.  Anyone who didn't know what
to look for would just dismiss the creature as a trick of their vision.

	"Master.  Danger."

	"What kind of danger?"  Damek asked.  This form was not overly
suited to speaking.  And if he changed to his natural form the Evelyn and
the boys would realize they were being watched.

	"Dragon."

	Despite his current form, Damek managed to arch his eyebrows.  A
dragon would mean trouble.  He would have to deal with this immediately.
"Stay here and watch them.  If the dragon somehow gets past me warn them.
They have to stay alive.  And if it comes down to it.  You will fight to
the death to protect those boys.  The woman isn't important."

	"Yes Master."

	He spread his wings and flew the direction the elemental had come
from.  It didn't take him long to find the dragon.  All he had to do was
locate the moving trees.  The elemental had been slightly incorrect with
its estimation of the danger.  The creature wasn't a exactly a dragon.  It
was a cockatrice.  Dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as a real dragon.

	The cockatrice was truly an ugly creature.  Its fifteen-foot long
body started with a vaguely avian head and ended with a feathered tail.  It
also had two oily feathered wings.  It was moving at a sluggish speed along
its four powerful legs.  The stench of the creature was muted by the stench
of the wilted trees.  Any plant it touched wilted and started to decay.

	Damek flew down and landed behind the creature.  Before his feet
touched the ground he transformed into his human form.  "Cockatrice."  He
called.  The creature stopped and turned around.  It regarded him with
curiosity.  This was not the brightest creature in existence.  But it was
still dangerous.  "I would suggest you change your direction.  You don't
want to keep going the way you are."  The cockatrice cocked its head to one
side.  A gleam crossed through its eyes and it lunged at Damek.  The beak
opened to snap the man's arm off.

	The man didn't even bother moving.  When the cockatrice got close
enough he backhanded it.  The bird-creature squawked in surprise as its
prey attacked it.  There was a cracking sound where Damek's hand had hit
its beak.  The cockatrice backed off for a moment.  It was smart enough to
realize that this meal would be more difficult to get.

	Damek raised his arms and began casting a spell.  His eyes never
left the cockatrice.  The creature simply watched him.  It was curious as
to what he was doing.  When he finished the spell three balls of lightning
hovered by his side.  He flicked his wrist toward the cockatrice and the
balls hurled themselves at it.  The creature didn't have time to move
before it was hit.  The smell of burning flesh filled wafted toward Damek.

	"Will you be listening to me now?"  He calmly asked the creature
while preparing another spell.  "Or will you be insistent?"  The cockatrice
roared in pain and lunged at him again.  Damek sidestepped it and kicked it
in the hindquarters on the way by.  "I'll take that as a no."

	The cockatrice turned around sharply and slashed at Damek's chest.
He didn't move quickly enough and the tip of a claw slashed his arm.  He
grunted in pain and kept moving.

	"This is going to stop," Damek told the creature.  "You're going to
leave, or you're going to die."  He paused while he called up another
spell.  "Actually, you're just going to die."

	A titanic blast of wind slammed into the cockatrice.  The creature
was lifted off its feet and thrown a hundred yards back into the trees.  It
came to rest and didn't move to get up.  Damek stepped over trees that had
been broken when the creature had been thrown.  He gazed quickly over the
creature's form to make sure it was dead.  It was.

	"Well that's taken care of," Damek said to himself.  He laughed
quietly to himself.  "They never learn not to attack beings of power."  He
shrugged and winced in pain.  The cut on his arm was already healing, but
it would be a few more minutes before all of the pain was gone.

	He waited until his wound had completely healed before changing
back into a hawk.  The fight hadn't worn him down too much, but it would
take him twice as long to get back to where the elemental was.





	He sighed for what must have been the thousandth time that hour.
Karr stared at the priestess before him.  He didn't like her.  She had come
because her order at sent her.  She didn't truly want to be there, but no
one disobeyed her order.

	"Arvia will you actually help us?"  Karr asked her.

	The woman shifted slightly.  Her gray robe did very little to
conceal the beauty of her form beneath it.  Her pale blonde hair fell
around her shoulders adding to her beauty.  "Karr, I will aid you because I
must.  The order has decreed that I will help you."

	Nodding Karr shifted in his chair.  He didn't like this.  The
involvement of the gods made him wary.  He didn't like them either.  "Are
all of your abilities at our disposal?"

	"No," Arvia smiled mysteriously.

	"What?"

	"I will use my abilities as I see fit," she told him.  "You will
ask me to do something and if I think it's worthy to your cause I will do
it.  I will use my abilities whatever way will suit the task the most.  And
know this, I will not involve myself in combat."

	"I see," Karr said.  He stood and began pacing.  He had been doing
that far too often in the last little while.  "We need your help Arvia.  I
will have to accept your offer.  Don't betray us."

	"Of course," Arvia said.  "My loyalty will lay with you so long as
your abide by the rules.  Now there is the manner of payment."

	"What do you want?"  Karr asked sharply.

	"If you succeed and one of your relatives finds out that my order
helped you, we'll be in trouble.  The order wants your word that you will
aid us if that happens.  Actually my order wants your word that you will
aid us when we call.  Your siblings will have to agree with this as well.
They will be bond by your word as you will."

	"I will have to speak to them about it," Karr replied.  "I won't
agree to these conditions until they agree as well.  I'm assuming that it's
an all or nothing contract."

	Arvia nodded.  "Yes.  Either you all agree or I leave and the order
reveals your plan."

	Karr spun on his heel.  "YOU WILL DO WHAT?"

	The priestess didn't even flinch at his reaction.  "They will
reveal your plan if you do not agree to the terms.  It's a simple process
Karr.  My order will fall into trouble sooner or later.  We need the
protection that you and your siblings can provide if you succeed.  If you
don't agree we'll reveal you to someone and gain their protection in
exchange for the information we'll give them."

	"Leave," Karr snapped.  "I'll contact my siblings.  When we have
discussed this I will inform you.  You do realize that because of the
insolence of your order that you will die if we do not accept."

	Arvia smiled mysteriously.  "Of course Karr.  I knew the risks when
I accepted this mission."  She turned and swept out of the room.  The door
closed behind her.

	That woman irritated him like no other could.  There were several
times in the last few hours that he had wanted to throttle her.  He almost
wished his brother and sister would refuse the offer so he could.




	The vendors along the street called out to Nydia.  Trying to sell
her their goods.  She hadn't seen anything she had wanted.  An hour before
she had paid a ransom to find contacts within the city.  The contacts all
turned out to be useless.  They had no information and Nydia had had to
control her temper.

	She stopped a moment and read sign outside a small store.  The sign
told her it was bookstore.  "Might have something interesting," she
murmured.

	The inside of the store was line with books.  Most of them were
forgeries.  She could tell that without even pulling them off the shelf.
There was the occasional one mixed in that was authentic.  She scanned the
titles in the musty shop until she came across a few that attracted her
attention.  She pulled this off the shelves and flipped through them.  They
contained a few interesting spells.  One in particular had a divination
spell that she should be able to work easily.

	"Is there anything that interests the lady?"  The shopkeeper asked
her.  He was a disgusting little dwarf.  He was almost completely bald and
his skin had turned a slight shade of yellow.

	"I'm almost done actually," Nydia brushed him off and kept scanning
the shelves.  The dwarf was bothering her.  He kept staring at her body.
She didn't like it.  "Would you stop that?"  She asked the dwarf tartly.

	"A lady of your beauty should be used to the occasional glance from
a stranger," the dwarf leered at her.

	"You'd think that wouldn't you?"  Nydia smiled sweetly as she
quickly backtracked through the shop and removed all the authentic books
from the shelves.  She set them all on the counter.  "I'll be taking all of
these."

	The dwarf climbed up on a stool.  "That's a lot of books for a
pretty lady.  Are you sure you're interested in those?"  He pulled a book
from behind the counter.  "Maybe you would be interested in this more."

	Nydia looked at the book in disgust.  It was romance novel. "No,
these will be fine."

	The dwarf shrugged and began ringing in her purchases.  When he
finished he put them in a cloth bag for her.  "Thank you for shopping
here."

	Nydia shook her head as she walked toward the door.  She stopped
and touched one of the books on the way out.  Then she left the shop
quickly and strode down the street.  The store she had stepped out of
exploded when she was halfway down the street.

"I do not enjoy the lecherous looks of a stranger."  She rounded the corner
and teleported herself home.





	Karr poured himself a glass of wine and leaned back in his chair.
"Those are our options.  We either accept Arvia's order's help and give
them what they want, or they reveal our plans to the gods."

	"We could simply kill her," Damek offered.  "But they would
probably take that as a refusal of their help."

	"And we wouldn't be able to move fast enough to wipe out the entire
order," Nydia agreed.

	"Even if we could," Karr said. "That would attract the god's
attention, and we don't want that."

	"Then it seems we have no choice but to accept Arvia's aid," Damek
concluded.  "If we don't her order will tell the gods, and they'll come to
stop us.  If we accept and fail in our task, we'll die.  So we won't have
to worry about fulfilling our obligations that way.  If we succeed then we
will be able to use their help anyway."

	"True," Nydia said.  "They're going about it wrong, but the order's
help will be useful in the short term.  If they become too much of a
problem, we can deal with them at a later date."

	"Then we're in agreement?"  Karr asked.  "We accept Arvia's offer
of aid."  The twins nodded their agreement.  "I'll inform her of our choice
tomorrow.  In the meantime do either of you have any information to add?"

	"I've nothing new to add," Damek said.  "Joey and Chris are
increasing in their powers.  At the rate they're advancing Chris will have
mastered his powers with two months.  Joey will take longer, but he'll be
continually developing powers.  I still haven't been able to remember how I
know their trainer.  Though I have discovered her name is Evelyn.  For
whatever that is worth."

	"It will come to you brother," Karr told him.  "Have their been any
complications in your watching?"

	"A cockatrice decided that it was going to head toward them," Damek
informed him.  "I headed it off and killed it before it became a problem."

	Karr nodded.  "Good.  Nydia what of your divination of Josh?"

	"Nothing," Nydia told him.  "I've attempted everything I know.  I
even attempted looking for magical resonance.  Nothing seems to work.  I've
recently acquired a book that has a spell that may be useful.  I haven't
had a chance to study it in depth yet.  It should be simple enough to cast.
I'll let you know how that goes."

	"What about your search for Lance?" Damek asked Karr.

	"I've had similar problems.  Divination doesn't appear to be any
help in located him.  I've sent a number of minions on searching for him,
but I haven't found anything yet."  He took a sip of his wine.  "Arvia may
be of some assistance there."

	Nydia nodded.  "She better be of some use.  Oh and before I forget.
Justin's position has recently changed.  The man he's with, Pyre I believe
is his name, has offered him partnership.  Justin has accepted."

	"What does Pyre do?"  Damek asked.

	"He's a vampire hunter."

	"Keep an eye on them," Karr told her.  "Justin should be safe, but
Mexico is a dangerous place to be unless you're a vampire."

	"I'm aware of that brother," Nydia snapped.  "I've been keeping an
eye on Justin for some time now.  My familiar is constantly with them when
I'm not."

	"Fine," Karr sighed.  "Damek have you found a seer yet?"

	"Actually I have," Damek replied.  "I was planning on paying him a
visit when you called this meeting."

	"I don't think we have anything else to discuss," Karr said.  "I
would visit him immediately.  We could use any information we can get.
Unless any of you has something else to say."  He left the sentence
hanging.  "Contact me when you find anything."





	Damek stood a mountain ridge, just outside a cave.  The cave was
home to the seer he had come to see.  Most seers had become reclusive,
almost shunning the people they claimed to try to help.  Because of their
visions, most seers couldn't cope in a normal society.  It was just as
well, most people were afraid of someone who could see the future, however
infrequently the visions came.

	"Come in child," the seer's voice floated out to him.  "I've been
expecting you."

	He sighed and stepped into the cave.  He had to get one of the
seers with a touch for the dramatic.  The inside of the cave was far better
then it first appeared.  Sweet smelling smoke filled the cave, but wasn't
over powering.  Two large braziers filled the cave with light.  The seer
was an aged man sitting cross-legged on a pillow between the braziers.
There was a curtain behind him, presumably where he slept.  He wore a
simple linen loincloth.

	"I've come for advice," Damek told him attempting to sound humble.

	"My knowledge is willingly imparted to all that seek in for the
benefit of others," the seer told him.  "What do you wish to know child?"

	"I seek to know the outcome of the events that will lead to my
siblings and I regaining our lost power."

	"Let me consult," the seer closed his eyes and began humming to
himself.  Damek knew instantly that this man did this every time a question
was asked.  People didn't accept a seer's response unless there was some
display put on.  He watched for a moment before his interest strayed to the
rest of the cave.  It was mostly barren, with the occasional painting on
the walls.

	His attention snapped back to the seer when he heard the man
gurgling.  The seer had begun frothing at the mouth.  Damek doubted that
this was part of the usual routine.  He was most likely getting a powerful
vision.  He watched with interest until the man spoke a few moments later.
The voice was far huskier then it had been before.

	"The five shall stand allied against the Trinity," the man gurgled.
"The lover shall be one influenced by Ishtar will be their triumph and the
Trinity's fall."  The seer vomited blood and died.


TBC

That's all for now.  Tell me what you think.  I want feedback.  The good,
the bad, the whatever.  Send me e-mail.  I love getting it.  And I freely
admit I'm an e-mail junkie.

Until next time,
Rune