continued from The Loyal Order
before the Dark Times
Dossaic Realm
Antechamber in the Temple
Bruce pried loose the last fuse and tossed it into the widening portal. He watched it burn off on the event horizon as the twinkling crack stretched into a bear-sized portal. Its pink light reflected in the koala's black eyes. He closed the access hatch and turned to enter the final Send command.
Ling Ling stood between Bruce and the controls. The panda grinned as best a bear could and said something haughty in Mandarin.
Bruce cut him off mid-sentence. "You're not from China
At this, the panda looked considerably less pleased with itself, but spoke, "I said the rest are dead and you're next."
Bruce believed him, from the sounds of carnage he'd heard and the blood spatter on Ling Ling.
In reply, the normally lethargic koala whipped a boomerang out from under his chainmail vest and hurled the weapon. It streaked past Ling Ling, and the panda barked laughter at the feeble attack.
But Bruce had not missed at all, for his target was the GO button on the controls.
The aperture flexed and hummed behind the koala. "G'day, mate." Bruce stuck his little tongue out at Ling Ling, spun around, and scurried through the waiting portal.
Earth - the mother realm
"Alert Alert! Warp Jump detected!"
Dossey looked up from his work in the Armory. He'd almost forgotten he had that alarm, it hadn't sounded in so long. He pushed away from his workbench and rushed over to a large wooden trunk that looked as old as he felt. Prying it open, he groped through its contents.
"Incursion imminent!" the computery voice chirped another warning.
"Dammit, I heard you the first time," Dossey growled at it, still groping around for the right tool.
"Aperture eminent," it added.
"Oh, ha ha," Dossey muttered at the computer's bad pun.
At last his hand brushed up against the cold metal of his little companion. He freed the device from the mass of mess in the trunk.
Dossey cradled the gadget and prayed it still worked. He brushed off the screen, adjusted the antennae, and flipped the power switch. It stared back blankly at him, so it he gave it a whack and that seemed to do the trick. It whined to life.
Dossey trudged outside and began immediately to sweep for valences. Buies Creek was a Nexus - one of the points where neighboring realms butted up against each other.
But there was no way to predict exactly where an individual portal would open, as arrival points varied with the shifting of dimensions and their moods.
Past the cafeteria, Dossey headed to what was almost but not quite a park. A gateway opening here in plain sight of students shuffling between classes was the last thing he needed.
The sun beat down on him as he looked about for the telltale smoke. Thank the Lord he'd grabbed his fedora on the way out the door - it shielded him from the sun.
There! He spotted the glimmering, warped air and tendrils of smoke. He rushed over as quickly as his sandals would let him.
The portal was a massive, festering, pulsating orb of light and heat. Such a big gateway meant a big visitor, maybe an army. Not good news. Dossey scanned the surroundings, but saw only bewildered and frightened pupils.
Out of the corner of his eye, a glimpse of smoke revealed a slight, smoking shape huddled by a decorative stone. Dave hurried over to what he took to be the traveler, who looked up on his approach.
"Don't let me down," the little guy said.
"Bruce?" Dossey replied, but before the koala could respond, the portal crackled, popped, and smoldered; flexed its unearthly maw; and out of the hot gate lumbered a black and white bear. The portal sputtered shut behind him.
When he spied Dossey hunched over by the rock, the panda reared up on its hind legs. So of course Dossey did the same.
The panda wore one of those conical Asian hats. What were they called? Coolie hats maybe.
Malzuh? More importantly, the panda had a gun strapped to its furry hip.
The Panda said something Dossey couldn't make out. So he just shrugged in reply. It sounded like Chinese and Dossey was allergic to Mandarin.
The panda sighed, but translated, "You must be the Exile."
Dossey frowned at this painful reminder. He'd been cast out of the Dossai and indeed his home realm for violating the Rules of Order. Interpreting the signs before his brothers, he saw conflict coming. And so he'd converted his old cave into an armory and set himself to manufacturing weapons.
Ling Ling shambled over to the brick pathway and slowly but deliberately reloaded his gun. There sure were a lot of bricks, he thought, looking down at the path and over to tangled web of walkways. Must be a brickyard nearby that gives them a deal.
Dossey shook the dark thoughts from his shaggy head and stepped onto the brick sidewalk to face this interdimensional intruder.
At that, Ling Ling holstered his weapon and stared down The Dossey.
Dossey raised his hand near to his own shooter, a custom revolver he'd crafted to only fire deadly, poisonous darts. It hung at his side hanging from a belt loop by a chord of twine.
Across the brick path, Ling Ling tensed, save for his gun hand, which hovered lightly over the pearl handle of his own lethal-looking eight-shooter.
What students still remained, sensing the coming firefight, scattered.
A stub of bamboo stuck out from the corner of the panda's jaws. He worked the bamboo shoot around a bit, before he spat it defiantly into the dirt.
A discarded plastic bag tumbled slowly by in the breeze.
Time stopped.
Quick as lightning, hands plunged for guns, wrists twisted to aim, barrels thundered; Time rushed to catch up with it all and it buffeted reality around them.
It was over as fast as it started. Ultimately, pandas are slow animals and despite Ling Ling's experience, Dossey was quicker on the draw and always shot from the hip, gun or not.
It was actually kind of anticlimactic.
Dossey walked over and checked the panda's pulse. Nothing. Dossey looked down at his own revolver with some pride. A successful field test of his most recent creation!
He was distracted from his revels by a student peeking around a primordial oak trunk. "Mr. Dossey killed an endangered species!" the student wailed. "Oooh, I'm telling!" And off the student ran.
Great. DD had enough difficulty staying out of trouble with the university. The last thing he needed was animal cruelty rumors. Speaking of which:
"Bruce is that you?" Dossey rushed over to the slumped koala. "Are you injured?"
"Huh?" the koala blinked its big black eyes. "No, I must've just dozed off."
DD looked the small bear over. Singed fur and burnt blood. He was in bad shape.
"Might've been one too many slides for you," he told the koala.
You are the Exile no longer," Bruce wheezed. "Our brothers are slain. You are the last Dossai." He stopped to cough, which Dossey thought funny since the guy reeked of cough drops.
"I destroyed the control mechanism," the koala struggled to say. "The aperture will cascade and destroy the machine and the entire Temple
"You did good, little buddy," Dossey told him, blinking.
"You ok?" the koala asked.
"Just got something in my eye," DD said dismissively.
"You can never go home," Bruce coughed, "but we will be reunited after the long hibernation…."
"… in the forest of eternal spring…." Dossey completed the quotation.
The koala nodded then clawed at Dossey's vest to pull him closer. "You are Rah now," he said with one final gasp. And then li'l Bruce died right there in Dossey's arms.
Dossey stared at the lifeless furball in silent shock. His revolver fell from his hand to the grass.
But from that day until his dying day, he was called Dossey-Rah.
To be continued!!
Lol. Funny entry you got there :)))
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