Interweapon:

This story is a fictional work created for the amusement of others. If you are not the age of 18 or the legal age the law conveys, please stop reading. If you find Homosexual sex offensive, stop reading. If you do not like stories with a violent nature or images stop reading.

Again, this is a work of fiction. You have been warned.

-         Thank you Dream Janus for helping me with this. I appreciate this tremendously!

-         And thank you to my editor Red for being my second set of eyes!

[Contact Info]- I always appreciate comments telling me if you like my work or not. Please e-mail criticism to my account at Aaron.Jay.W@hotmail.com or at Jouous_fruit@yahoo.com. Thank you

[A Note from Aaron Jay] – Sorry about the time it took for this chapter to be completed. A combination of gathering notes together and getting sick had its effect on me. I have a huge bucket full of notes that took back when I was in high school. I'm trying the best I can to sort out what is going to be used, and where it is going to be going in my story. Thank you so much for your patience.

_ _ _ _

Chapter 6: The Cold

The sound of boots hitting tile echoed down the hallways. Through the dark corridors a single person hurriedly walked, lighting his way with his soft glowing, bright orange hair and the soft glow, of his ember, red hands. His eyes were like molten lava boiling over the rim of a volcano. Nothing was going to get in his way, not even the scattered corpses that littered the floor in front of him or behind him. Zeke had been traveling the corridor halls for quite a while, pondering over how much freedom the master was giving him. He wondered constantly," Why? Why did the master give him this freedom now, and never at any other time?" confusion was plagued on his young face.

Zeke did not want to disappoint the master, but he was very curious as to why he, above all the people like him were chosen to be in such high regard to the master. No matter what, Zeke wanted to get to the front doors before anyone decided to leave. Being on the master's bad side was not something Zeke wished to happen.

Out of nowhere, Zeke heard a loud boom from the direction he was heading. "What was that? "He stopped mid stride and asked himself out loud in his deep throaty voice. "Shit! That came from the entrance!" Zeke decided it would be better for him to run the rest of the way. His hands grew from a soft ember glow, to a blue, red and orange flare of burning, living flames. The fire extended out from his body, devouring everything and anything in his path, except him. The dead corpses turned to ash as he ran, and the halls billowed the heat of a fire consuming a meal in joyous bliss.

Zeke however was not happy. "That better not be what I thought it was." He thought to himself as he ran.

_ _ _ _

The night air felt wonderful to everyone. Smiles were plastered on each and everyone's faces as the small, rag tag group made their way on to a dirt path road, leading to the facilities parking lot.

Bob, Tom, and Rob were happy out of relief. They didn't think about their future one bit, all they knew was that they were not going to die tonight, which suited them just fine. All three looked around as they walked on their forced journey. The outside looked exactly the same as it did when they arrived earlier at the base; cold, icy and unnaturally dark. Everything was covered in snow, and without jackets and proper winter gear, it seemed colder than it did when they arrived in the morning.

Even with smiles on their faces, everyone was shivering. Sara, the smallest member of the team, was hugging herself trying to stay warm; her teeth were chattering loudly as she walked.

Even with the cold, smiles were still present. Until Sara abruptly stopped walking and West bumped right into her back absentmindedly.

"The Forest to meet.

To greet:

We are expected.

Midnight soon draws near,

And so too do the hidden.

The three plus one, one plus three;

Twenty-five is the only key.

The odds of six and evens of none,

Future is set to those who see.

Change in the air,

And those traitors, which were friends,

Will weep in despair.

Know pain in the path of forward thinking

But outside the box,

The left route will sing a song sweet!

Speak Les and knowledge is for the taking.

Sara's eyes glowed through her long silver hair like a beacon. Everyone behind Sara stopped to listen to her prediction as did Bob, Tom and Rob, under Xy's orders, from the front.

Kevin and Ari kept walking until they noticed that the three in front of them stopped. Both men turned around and saw Sara glowing. They then rushed back and demanded her to repeat her prediction, which she did with chattering teeth, showing no emotion what so ever.

_ _ _ _

Cuddled in the soft, cold blankets of snow, the seedlings all agreed to take a quick nap before the night's events. The beds of leaves that surrounded their bodies warmed them all with a motherly heat that cascaded onto the surrounding enclosure. They, of course, were nestled in deep snow banks, but the entire area where they lived wasn't affected. The trees, in the small vicinity, were rich and vibrant, coming to life with floral aromas and were void of any snow. The ground held little snow, besides the snow banks where the seedlings rested, and were rich in a green color. By looking into this tiny enclosure in the woods, you'd swear it was spring instead of the dead of winter.

The wood sprites were busying themselves with preparing various delicacies for their various guests. They didn't know who or what was coming, so the assumption was resting on what the wood sprites themselves ate: the bark of trees and berries. They gathered as much as they could from the surrounding bushes and trees. Each wood sprite smiled at themselves for their creative use of ingredients.

Just as the seedlings were drifting off to sleep, they were awoken by several wood sprites saying, in hushed tones "Eft gfht `thr uthre. Eft ghtne'!"(The people you/they ask for come. The people are/were/was many!) The footsteps in the distance confirmed the wood sprites words.

"Bring them here," was transmitted into the wood sprites heads. The wood sprites knew what to do, and they did as they were told.

Hurrying off into the direction that footsteps were coming from, the many wood sprites were greeted by someone they all recognized. "Davoa lgia Da'a'va! Toivnob brusee fuh' dquin toi no." ( Hello/ Greetings to you Da'a'va! Seedlings want/wish/need a request with you/them/us.)

The ghostly figure in front of the sprite looked at the small woodish characters and smiled. "Loocke' dge' bru''." (It would/will be honor/greatness.) Those behind the ghost were confused by the entire transaction. Only one stifled a childish giggle.

"Hey, Poultrigeiust!" a medium height man, with torn clothing and bruised, hollowed pale skin spoke out from behind Da'a'va. "What did those twigs just say? I don't speak tree, ya know!"

Da'a'va smiled as he turned around to face the man speaking. "They said that the seedlings wish to see us."

"Man, that's creepy. We just enter this place and they already know we're here." Asa looked around with his paling face. "How can you stand them being like that all the time, ghosty?"

"It's easy. They take of us, we take of them." As Da'a'va answered, the cries of several seedlings were heard in the surrounding wood sprites minds and in Da'a'vas. Da'a'va stopped talking for a moment as he listen to what the Seedling had to say.

"Ghosty?!" Asa Interjected. "I asked you a question!" then he muttered under his breath, "Fucking transparent one-way conversation... This shit is never gonna work! "

Da'a'va raised his pointer finger to his lips and sharply hissed at Asa a, "Shhh!"

"Another party of representatives has arrived. Show them, as well to where we rest. Make sure the harbinger is willing, she will be harder to convince then her two comrades." Six voices in Da'a'va's head spoke, as well as in the present sprites minds: Sapphira was no exception.

_ _ _ _

"So Kevin, since you are the elected `Sara know it all,' what does she mean?" Tim asked with partial humor, but mostly in seriousness. Everyone was looking at Kevin in anticipation, even Sara, who was out of her precog trance by now, and was informed of what she had said.

Kevin looked at the younger boy and smiled. "Touché!" Kevin started to giggle briefly. "Well, I'd have to venture a guess. I don't really understand this one." All eyes suddenly looked down. "Hey, Hey! That doesn't mean I don't get the gist of what she said!" Everyone looked at Kevin again in hope. "Okay, so I think Sara was talking about us going into that forest there." Kevin pointed to a forest off to the left of their little group. "She said something about a forest and going to the left. So I think it's safe to say that Sara, you want us to go in there, right?" Kevin looked at Sara for an answer.

Sara, in response put both her hands on either hip, pouting at Kevin. "How should I know what I said!? It's not like I'm conscience or anything when I say that stuff, is it?!" her whispery, girly voice had a hard edge on it when she spoke to Kevin.

Everyone present began to laugh at her open act of shunning. "I know. I'm just trying to bounce some ideas around! God, you're so quick to judge!" Kevin responded back towards Sara. Sara blushed and hid her face further away in her long silver hair. "Okay, so should we go into that forest? It's all we have to go on at the moment. "Kevin shrugged his shoulders.

Rachel, Tim, Xy, Ari, Sara, West, Drew, and three puppets all nodded. The puppets nodded due to Xy's over eagerness to try out a new adventure, the three men Bob, Tom and Rob had no choice in the matter.

"Then it's agreed."

_ _ _ _

Only a handful or so of the humans seemed to be what Ezra wanted out of the remaining staff currently stationed in the base. Many had ideals he knew the master was against, and many weren't what he, himself liked in a person. Those few soldiers, scientists, prisoners, guards and technicians he liked so far, Ezra ended up being able to `convince' to pledge their loyalty completely and fully to his Master and him, would be waiting in the cafeteria hall for further `orders.'

Ezra kept an open eye out for any gifted staff members and prisoners that were willing to give up their old ways of life, especially. Having a special gift made them more of a use to the master. Those individuals that Ezra came across fitting this description were sent directly to the master with a message.

The master was pleased at Ezra's weeding out process, as was Jade, who was still telephoning the long list of names given to her. Jade was happy that she wasn't given a job as difficult as Ezra, and was thrilled that he was able to create the mindless drones that entered the room. None of them were as powerful as Her, Zeke, or Ezra, but these puppets made her smile: She'd have power over the people here once again.

The master was very pleased until a sweaty, angry Zeke entered the room saying in a deep throated voice, "They escaped." Up until that point the master was happy, but from that point on, Anger was the only emotion that the master felt, and everyone present knew it.

_ _ _ _

The small groups of escapees were beyond freezing. The cover of the trees helped against the wind, but they all felt, deep down inside, that they would have been better off back inside of the military base. Everyone was hugging themselves or rubbing some extremity or other to keep themselves warm. Xy was even allowing Bob, Tom and Rob to warm themselves up.

Rachel decided that, why not, if she could do what she could, why couldn't she create something to warm her friends. After experimenting for some time, she decided to merge thoughts with Drew.

"Ummm..." Rachel started as she walked up to Drew and poked his back. "I need to talk to you about something." Her face began to flush.

Drew looked at his friend and slowed his pace to meet hers. "Sure, what is it?"

"I think both of us could make something to help warm up everyone." Her eyes turned a deep violet hue as she spoke and a pair of Dark purple leather gloves appeared on her hands. "I can't make a lot of this stuff, but I can make enough for maybe a couple people. Is the Earth here exposed enough for you to make some coats or anything?"

Drew slapped his forehead. He was angry at himself for not thinking of this earlier. "Yeah, I can make some stuff, but it's going to be heavy..."

Rachel was quick to cut in. "I already came up with a plan for that. It's really only Xy, Sara and me that won't be able to hold that amount of weight. I would have been able to before they..." Rachel ended up trailing off and tears started to form in her eyes.

"Rachel, it's ok!" Drew wrapped his big, burly arm around the frail girl's shoulder. "You now are out and using that brilliant noggin of yours. Do you think I would have come up with a plan like that? All of us would've frozen to death without you!" Drew brought his other hand over to Rachel's nose and squeezed it playfully. "We better get to work before we die."

Rachel burst out in laughter at Drew's last comment. "And you gotta find some Earth, big guy!" She punched Drew's chest playfully. "I'll go tell Kevin what we're planning; we should stop moving so it'll be easier for the both of us." Rachel separated herself from Drew and ran ahead to inform Kevin of her and Drew's plan. As she got toward the front of the group, where Kevin was, she noticed a change in temperature: it was getting warmer. "Kevin... Me and Drew were going to..." but before she could continue, a dual-toned voice from behind them spoke.

"Midnight!

Oh sing to me my muse,

Midnight has come!

Les is waiting in the garden

That never sleeps.

Speak his name

And angels shall weep.

Sara's eyes were, again, shining through her hair with an unnatural glow.

"Go to him and all will be forgiven

Go to him,

And reward will soon follow.

Desire burns in your veins

For all can see plus four."

When she was done, Sara fell down in a heap of rags. Her Small delicate body rose slightly with each breath. West reached down and scooped her up from the icy ground. "What did she mean by that?" the commander asked as he held the small girl in his arms.

"I think it means we have to just say the name Les." Kevin stated as he stared off into the scenery in front of him. "I'm not sure what will happen, but that much is clear. None of us knows." As Kevin was looking, several shadows suddenly moved quickly from one tree to the next. "Did anyone see that?" Kevin asked as he pointed to where the shadows moved. He looked back at everyone, a unanimous shake of the head said that Kevin was the only one. "Maybe it's the stress of everything that has happened today..." As he was rationalizing what he saw, Kevin saw the strange movement once more.

"We are here to see Les!" Kevin yelled into the darkness in front of him, not knowing what would happen, but hoping he was doing the right thing. Everyone was now looking into the blank scene before them. Two shadows started to move out into the open and toward the group; everyone saw them now.

"Come. They see you come tonight." The voice was scratchy and masculine at the same time. The two shadowy figures could not be clearly identified in the darkness, but they were obviously motioning for the small band of friends to follow them. "Not be Afraid. We speak for Les.

Kevin finally found the nerve to ask a question to these shadows that had been bothering him for quite some time. "Please, tell me who Les is?" Kevin knew that these `people' had a better idea than him.

"He is we," The second shadow responded in just as scratchy of a voice at the first. "We is he. Les is Brother."

Kevin confusedly asked back, "What do you mean?"

The First shadow responded back, "You soon see. Les wants see you!" The two shadowed figures stepped out of the darkness and showed themselves for the first time.

_ _ _ _

@ Copyright by Aaron Jay. Do not reproduce without permission.