--------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an entirely fictional story (as if you couldn't guess) and is not intended to imply anything about the sexuality of the members of NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys and none of these events actually happened in real life. Also, the characters "Hercules", "Iolaus", "Lilith" and "Jason" are copyrighted to the show "Young Hercules" and all other companies associated with the show. This story has hints of homosexual content but will move slowly in that area because of the storyline. Comments and suggestions are welcomed and should be sent to ensstyenlc@hotmail.com If you are 18 or older, you may proceed to read the story. If you are under 18 years of age, shouldn't you be studying or at least at a Pokemon website rather than here? ;-) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would like to thank David from Nifty for letting me put my work on his site. Also to all the authors (both from Nifty and from actual books) who have inspired me. To the authors at Nifty, I hope to get to know you guys better. And to those people from the MUD Realms of Despair, if any of you guys see your characters' names here, don't worry about it...I just picked carefully chosen, random names. To those reading this story, thank you for choosing to read this story. I'll do my best not to let you down. Now let's continue the story, shall we? ___________________________________________________________________________ |The BSB NSYNC Chronicles - Chapter Two|
Lalaith awoke with a start, her silvery blond hair glistening in the moonlight that streamed through her window. She contemplated the dream which had caused her to awaken from her sleep, if sleep it could be called. Her people did not actually sleep in human terms. They just slipped into a state of pure relaxation equivalent to human sleep, except that they were aware of what went on around them. In her dream, she had seen ten young human males appear from a bright flash of light. She had also heard a voice telling her to get Estel to meet them when they came. She pondered how her brother would be able to meet them. If her dream was accurate (which she believed it to be), the humans would be appearing in the morning near the southern borders of the forest which was home to her people. It would take at least five days to travel there. And even though Estel could teleport there, he had to at least know the appearance and name of one of the humans before he could target in on them.
"Do not worry, my child," a calm, loving, quiet Voice spoke to her. "I will take care of everything."
Lalaith just nodded, feeling peaceful and secure in the presence of her God, Eru Iluvatar. The priestess scanned her room and her attention was drawn towards a scroll on her table. She was certain that it had not been there when she went to sleep earlier that night. She untied the purple ribbon and unfurled the scroll. Her green eyes lit up with surprise as she saw a perfectly painted picture of one of the strange humans from her dream. It was so life-like, she felt that the human was staring back at her with his soulful, sky-blue eyes. His sandy-brown hair looked so real that Lalaith rubbed her hand over it, just to be sure. The human had high cheekbones and a smile so warm, it would melt all the winter snows in the Northern Lands. He looked almost like one of her people except that he had a squarish jaw and his ears were not pointed. He wore strange white clothing that seemed to shimmer and reflect light, giving him an angelic feel. A small silver cross hung on a chain around his neck, notifying Lalaith that both of them at least worshipped the same God. Underneath the picture, written in the flowing script of her people, was the name of the human. The smooth words glowed with a firey-blue light. It was a strange name to Lalaith. She decided to read it out loud to familiarise herself with the name.
"Brian Thomas Littrell," Lalaith said. As soon as the words left her mouth, the blue light faded, leaving only plain black letters. Lalaith took that as a sign. She began to whisper a prayer to Eru and draw on His power. As she prayed, she seemed to shimmer with holy light. She finished her prayer and faded into the moonlight.
Estel looked around his house, taking in the familiar sights he had missed while he was away. It's good to be back, he smile to himself. He placed his backpack onto his bed and debated whether or not to unpack that night. He yawned and decided to unpack the next morning. He removed his backpack from his bed and placed it on the floor. He lay on the nest-like bed and curled up to keep himself cosy. He began to relax as he slipped into reverie.
Estel awoke when he felt a tug on his arm. He slipped out of reverie and turned to face the person who woke him. His piercing blue eyes glared angrily at his sister.
"What do you want?" he asked grumpily. He sat up on his bed to look his sister in the eye.
"Eru spoke to me in a dream," was her reply. Estel's eyes opened wider with wonderment.
"What did He say?" Estel asked, genuinely interested.
"He told me to wake you and to tell you of my vision," Lalaith replied.
"What was your vision and what has it got to do with me?" Estel asked.
"I had a vision of ten human males, ranging from youths to young adults, who appeared out of a bright flash of light," Lalaith related her story. "I have been commanded by Eru to tell you to meet them first thing in the morning."
"I won't be able to reach them in time," Estel said simply.
"You could teleport," Lalaith pleaded.
"I don't know how any of them look like and I don't know their names. I will not be able to teleport to them," Estel argued. Lalaith smiled and reached into her robes and pulled out the scroll with the picture. She handed it to Estel. Estel rolled the scroll open and saw the picture. He looked at his sister with a question in his eyes.
"It appeared on my table after the vision," Lalaith answered his unspoken question. Estel thought for a moment.
"Why can't you meet them? You could always Solar Flight to get there. Is it just me or is this human wearing the symbol of Eru around his neck? And how did you get into my house anyway? You obviously used Lunar Flight but I thought it only worked outdoors," Estel questioned curiously.
"Yes, the human is a follower of Eru, which is strange because he does not seem to be an Israelite, and they are the only other people who worship Eru, besides us. And I can't meet them because unlike your teleportation spells, Solar and Lunar Flight work only when you visualise the place you want to appear. You can't target to a person," Lalaith explained. She grinned a little as she continued. "As to the indoor/outdoor issue of my Lunar Flight, I regret telling you that your house no longer qualifies as indoors. In case you didn't notice, you roof is gone."
"WHAT?! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Estel shouted, jumping to his feet. His face flushed red with anger up to the tips of his pointed ears. Lalaith could not help but giggle at the sight.
"While you were meeting with the Wizards' Conclave in Gondolin, one of the apprentices, Kerian I believe his name to be, tried to conjure up a small wind to cool himself. While speaking the spell words, he put too much force into his hand gestures and accidently conjured a small hurricane which blew your roof off," Lalaith giggled as she explained.
"Eru, that kid is too much!" Estel fumed. "I can't believe that he can't seem to remember that making too strong a hand gesture will increase the power of the spell. I have a good mind to tell his parents to withdraw him from my class before he causes some major damage."
Lalaith just shrugged and began to giggle again. She caught a glimpse of the easetern sky as she looked out Estel's window. The sun was slowly beginning to rise. Her laughter ceased abruptly, causing Estel to look out the window as well.
"They should be appearing right about now," Lalaith said nervously, wondering why such a strange thing had happened. "You should meet them as soon as possible."
Estel nodded and looked at the picture. He began to utter strange incantations. Lalaith glanced at him and silently wished him good luck. Estel concluded the spell and disappeared in a bright flash of blue light. Lalaith began her prayer for Solar Flight and soon disappeared from Estel's house as well.
The white light had finally faded from his eyes. Slowly he opened them and looked at his friends to make sure they were alright. He saw Justin slowly rise from the ground. Lance and JC still had their eyes tightly shut. Kevin was helping Nick and Chris to climb down from the branches of the tree that they had both appeared in. AJ and Howie were glaring coldly at Joey. Joey was still trembling from the shock.
Soon, all the guys had recovered from the dizzying journey and most of them were glaring at Joey angrily. They had good reason to, as he was the one responsible for their magical journey. Brian foresaw the fight that was inevitable.
"I told you not to do anything," Justin growled at Joey. "But no, you had to go all 'Merlin' and cast the spell."
"How was I supposed to know that this would happen?" Joey argued back, his eyes filling up with tears of anger.
"That's not important right now," Brian interrupted the argument before it got worse. "What we need to do now is find a way to get back to our time."
"Where's the spellbook," Kevin asked. "Maybe we could find a spell to bring us back."
Joey shuffled his feet and looked at the ground, his face glowing a bright red from embarrassment.
"I...I...sorta, er, dropped i...it," he managed to stammer out.
"Pardon?" Chris asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I dropped it," Joey repeated, still not taking his eyes of the ground.
"YOU WHAT?! WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT???!" AJ and JC shouted in unison.
"I was so shocked that the spell worked that I dropped the spellbook," Joey said, trembling.
"Excuse me, but is there a Brian Thomas Littrell here?" A strange, musical voice inquired. The boys turned around in surprise. They were shocked be the sight of a tall, slender man with golden brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin and pointed ears. He was clotheed in a long blue and green shirt. His leather pants had a small criss-cross pattern down the outside of the legs. He wore leather sandals, like those worn by the people of medieval times, which he probably was, Brian thought. He was shocked that this stranger knew his name. Brian stepped forward and pointed to himself.
"Yes, I am Brian," he said, smiling warmly at the newcomer. The newcomer stepped forward and clenched his right hand into a fist. He tapped his fist once on his chest over his heart, the brought his fist to Brian's heart and tapped it once, then bowed. Brian did not understand the gesture, but felt it would be impolite of him not to return the gesture. He copied the stranger's movements and repeated the strange ritual.
"My name to humans is Hope," the stranger bowed again. "It is a pleasure to finally meet the man who has caught my sister's heart, though you may not know it and she may not admit it."
"How did you know of me?" Brian furrowed his eyebrows together.
"She saw you in a vision sent by Eru and He also sent her a scroll with a perfect picture of you with your name under it," Estel answered Brian.
"Who is Eru?" Brian asked, confused. He became even more confused when Hope looked at him with bewilderment.
"How can a follower of Eru not know who He is?" Hope asked.
"Follower of Eru? You must be mistaken," Brian replied, now thoroughly puzzled. Hope unfurled a scroll and showed him the picture of him. Brian was amazed how the picture seemed perfectly him. He saw Hope's finger point to the cross around his neck in the picture.
"That is the symbol of Eru," Hope said. "Unless the picture is wrong, you are a follower of Eru."
A thought struck Brian.
"Do you know if anyone else besides your race worships Eru? If so, what do they call him?"
Hope thought for a moment.
"I think the Israelites worship Him, but they call him Yahweh," Hope replied. Brian nodded in understanding. He smiled at Hope.
"Then I am a follower of Eru," he conceded. "All my friends that are here are followers of Him."
Hope raised his eyebrows in surprise. He did not expect such an answer. He looked at the group of strangely clad humans with a little more respect than he would normally feel for their people. His eyes made contact with a pair of similarly blue eyes from a dirty blond, curly-haired youth. He gazed into the youth's eyes and felt a strange attraction towards him. He searched the eyes for similar feelings. He smile widened a little with the revelation.
Justin kept his gazed locked on Hope. His first thought was, God, Hope is so cute! Then it was, Shit! What am I thinking?! He kept his gaze locked on Hope, trying to see if he could gather any information on his new friend. He caught nothing from Hope's eyes. Somehow, Hope was adept at hiding his feelings. Justin thought he felt his heart crack a little. He began to frown.
Hope noticed the slight change in the youth's behaviour. He immediately tried to make the youth feel comfortable.
"And what is your name?" he asked, hoping to start a conversation.
"Justin," Justin replied. Justin was suddenly curious about why Hope would want to know something about him.
"You have questions to ask," Hope noted. Justin's eyes widened, realising that Hope could read emotions as adeptly as he hid his own from others. He wondered what he should say, hoping to cover his embarrassment.
"What was, er, that hand ritual that you did while greeting Brian?" Justin asked. It was the perfect question for it not only covered his embarrassment, but it also gained him new knowledge about Hope.
Hope smiled, amazed at Justin's quick thinking. He would make a good wizard, Hope thought, I'll ask him later if he wants me to teach him.
"It's a traditional greeting of my people," Hope explained. "The fist symbolises power, and when I tapped my fist on my heart, then on Brian's, it symbolised that the power of my heart has joined with his heart in friendship. When he returned the gesture, we were doubly bonded in friendship, giving Brian the title of 'Elendil'. It is a term given to people not of my race to show that they are friends of my people. Somehow, all my people are able to distinguish an Elendil from other members of his race. It somehow shows on their faces."
"That's real cool and all, but I'm getting very hungry and would like to eat before I faint," Howie added rudely. "Now to get things clear, I don't think Hope is your real name and I don't trust you. If you appeared in a strange place and someone called 'Hope' greeted you, you would wonder if the name was real. I think you're just trying to trick us into trusting you. I don't really care about your customs and people, so quit talking like some damn teacher explaining a point and show us whatever 'honour' your people may have and show some hospitality or something."
His friends turned and regarded Howie with cold glares, angry that he may have ruined their only hope (no pun intended) of surviving this strange world.
"Amin feuya ten' lle, atan," Hope sneered in his language.
"What was that?" Howie growled, his anger growing with each second.
"I said 'You disgust me, human'," Hope growled. "Your people are notorious for being impatient and rude, and you are more unpleasant than most. You disgust..."
"Shut the hell up!" Howie interrupted. He narrowed his eyes threateningly.
"Make me," Estel taunted, his voice getting on Howie's nerves. Howie growled and charged at Hope, his fists clenched in anger. He swung a fist towards Hope's jaw. A strange force stopped him. Hope narrowed his eyes and Howie felt himself being lifted from the ground. Hope blinked his eyes and Howie was thrown back about ten yards back. The boys gasped.
"Pathetic weakling," Hope sneered. "You would have done better not to anger Val'Istar Estel, human."
"Val'Istar Estel?" Lance asked.
"Archmage Hope, in your language," Estel explained as Howie got to his feet. Howie charged at Estel again. This time, Estel waved his hand in front of his eyes. Howie staggered and fell to the grassy floor of the field.
"Howie!" AJ yelled, and then ran towards the limp body of his friend.
"What did you do to him?!" Kevin yelled at Estel.
"Nothing that would hurt him," Estel stated coldly. "He is sleeping."
"Wake him up," Justin pleaded. He just knew that, somehow, Estel would do almost anything he asked. He was right in this assumption. Estel nodded and snapped his fingers. Howie awoke with a start. Before Howie could say anything, Estel said,"Take note of this, human. If I or my people are insulted by you one more time, I will leave you and your friends alone to find your own way. If you wish, you may travel southwards. You will get to the nearest human village in five days if you ran continuously day and night without stopping to eat or drink. The way is perilous, though. It is known to the villagers as 'Death's Home'. I doubt that you will make it alive. If you want to insult me or my people, keep in mind that by doing so, you will have condemned your friends to death."
"We don't need your help," Howie sneered.
"Howie!" Kevin and Brian shouted at him together. The guys of *N Sync glared at Howie. Even AJ stepped back, shaking his head in barely contained anger.
"Then that is how it will be," Estel said.
"Wait!" Justin began to plead, but it was too late. A puff of smoke unsued and when it cleared, Estel had gone.
------------------------------TO BE CONTINUED------------------------------ This story was a bit shorter than I intended. I would have made it longer but decided to change the plot a bit to give it more depth. What I plan to do is split all the guys into either ones or twos and set them on different adventures and such. They will come together again in the finale, which I hope is a long time away. As before, email me with any comments and/or questions. My email is ensstyenlc@hotmail.com The next chapter should hopefully be out by next week, and (also hopefully) longer as well. Until then, see you!