Mists of Fate

Mists of Fate Chapter 9 -- Understanding the Mists

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. -- Henri Bergson

The greatest productive force is human selfishness. -- Robert Heinlein

It was strange for Andrei. As Tyler, the adopted son of J'Stan held Andrei by his throat, demanding an answer, it felt like he was seeing him in two different ways. The loving, excitable little boy J'Stan had raised, and the legendary Shaper of Barcelona. It was confusing for a moment, but his attention was gripped firmly, just as his throat was.

"Tell me," Tyler growled. "What the hell is going on here!"

Andrei could only think of one way to instantly tell Tyler and to gain his trust. J'Stan's memories told him Tyler was always wary of people's intentions, and guarded in his trust. That left only one real option. With a calmness that was decidedly forced, he rolled back his protections and invited Tyler to read everything from his mind.

As expected, Tyler did not hesitate to accept the offer. Andrei could feel Tyler reading his memories, of recent events here, and of things further back. Surprise was felt when Tyler touched the memories from J'Stan, but the boy ignored them after a few moments. Instead he returned to the final confrontation with B'rel. Slowly his hand withdrew from Andrei's throat and he smiled pleasantly.

"Okay, Andy. Not bad at all. Especially when you consider he managed to trap everyone else here for hundreds of years." Tyler said.

"Gee, thanks." Andrei said a little sarcastically, rubbing his neck. "And the name is Andrei., Ty."

"Hey, only my dad calls me Ty, Andy." Tyler said.

"If you want to call me Andy, I call you Ty." Andrei said, smiling at the little exchange.

"Friends, then, Andy?" Tyler asked, sticking his hand out.

"Friends." Andrei said, gripping the proffered hand.

"Okay, I think we need to wake everyone else up." Tyler said.

"I agree, how do you want to do this?" Andrei said, deferring to his new friend, who was definitely the more experienced Shaper.

"How about you wake them up, you got more experience breaking the moldings than I do. I'll take the shield." Tyler said, then "oh yeah," he waved his hand in a circular fashion and the people who had been scattered throughout the area moved so that they were aligned in front of the pair. Andrei passed holding the shield over to Tyler, and started to work.

He started with the Terrence persona. It only took a moment before the false persona shattered, revealing the real person underneath. A scared and bewildered Ter. He looked up at Andrei, a smile creeping on his face, then the two were embraced in a tight hug.

"Gods it is good to see you." Ter whispered. "I never want to experience something like that again."

"I know, Ter, I know." Andrei whispered. "Help Tyler out will ya?"

"Tyler?" Ter whispered, his voice showing awe.

"Yeah, the blond guy behind me. He was Justin." Andrei explained.

"Oh, were you Andy?" Ter asked, blushing slightly.

"Yeah." Andrei said softly. A flash of jealousy crossed Ter's face at the memory that in their `personas' Tyler and Andrei had been a couple. "Don't let it bother you, it wasn't really us."

"I know." Ter said with a heavy sigh. "Have you found J'Stan yet? He and I..."

"Not yet. Why don't you see if you can help Tyler with anything." Andrei instructed softly. There were still another twenty or thirty people, Shapers, really who were frozen in place. As Ter moved towards Tyler, Andrei turned to the next one, and set about breaking the fake persona that had been put in place.

Each time he broke the fake persona, he found himself facing another name out of the legends he grew up with. P'kel. K'ron. J'vol. Xen Ha. M'sha. All these Shapers named in the histories, all men he knew threw J'Stan's memories. None recognized him, but the growing ranks behind him acted as a reassurance and he only had a few scary moments like Tyler's awakening. His concern grew, though, as J'Stan did not appear.

At last, he was down to one person. The persona was that of Pastor Lerner. Disgust swelled in Andrei at the memories of the actions condoned by the man, and the hypocrisy the religious leader had been responsible for. He had to fight his own dislike of the persona reminding himself that the person underneath was not responsible for their actions. Or were they? He paused a moment, just as he was reaching out to break the persona and thought about his experience.

Even without his memories of who he was, of his own past, he had not lost the core of who he was as a person. His values, his ideals of right and wrong had stayed constant. From the bits and pieces he'd picked up from the other Shapers, now staring at him, he had found that most of them had been through similar experiences. Those that had been here for hundreds of years had experienced it several times as the `story' had been reset. If this man, this bastard, really was J'Stan, what did that say about the Shaper he knew so intimately?

His own memories were now integrated with the thousands of years of J'Stan's memories. They were as much a part of him as his own, yet they had not really changed who he was as a person. If this thing standing before him really was J'Stan, what reflection did it have on the real man? Were the memories he had faulty? Were his perceptions so altered by his upbringing that he missed something when he looked at J'Stan's memories? These questions started him on a rapid-fire chain of doubting questions, until he realized the source of his anxiety.

It was coming from the Pastor Lerner persona!

A probe by Andrei revealed something not seen with the previous personas. There was some sort of defensive mechanism around the persona, causing his doubts. It had the flavor of something B'rel would try. Concentrating harder he figured a way around it, and pressed inwards. When this persona cracked, it was audible to everyone there. A collective gasp filled the crowd of Shapers behind him as the form of Pastor Lerner wavered into the familiar form of J'Stan.

"My god, what have I done?" J'Stan whispered, his voice full of horror, looking at his hands. Tears streamed from his eyes as they stared sightlessly at his own upraised hands like they were covered in blood. His head lifted and he took in the Shapers standing before him, a look of wonder, shock, and fear filling his face. Finally he looked at Andrei for a long moment, then stumbled forward until he was in reach and collapsed against the young man, crying softly.

Andrei was shocked, and confused. Why was J'Stan reacting like this? He'd expected a kind of reaction based on the persona J'Stan had been. But breaking down like this? He reached out gently with his mind, tickling the edges of J'Stan's shield, asking silent questions.

Answers came, not in words but images, and feelings. Guilt, pent-up desires, almost a primordial rage, disgust, self-loathing, and more guilt all flowed into him from J'Stan. He could feel that these were from the persona of Father Lerner, not from J'Stan. Images of J'Stan, trapped inside the Father Lerner persona, forcing Terrence and a few other children into sex, torture of a few townspeople accused of heresy. The images made Andrei sick, but he was still confused. What did these things have to do with J'Stan?

Everything. The answer came floating up as he realized why. The persona was what had held each of them prisoner, and was made from within the person. That meant that somewhere, deep down, J'Stan had within him the capability of being a Father Lerner, something he had hated and fought against all his life.

`We all carry a dark side around with us.' Andrei sent into J'Stan's mind.

`But mine got away from me.' J'Stan's mental voice was near a wail.

`J'Stan, you know the answers here as well as I do. You are not to blame for those actions. B'rel was trying to drag you down, into suicide.' Adam sent softly.

`Physician, heal thyself?' J'Stan quoted.

"J'Stan, let it go. I don't blame you, and no one else here should either." Ter said, coming up behind them.

"How can you say that? You were one of..." J'Stan said, lifting his head to look at Ter standing behind them.

"Where there is remorse, let there be forgiveness. Where there is forgiveness, let love grow." Ter quoted.

"Got to like a man who uses a person's own words against him." Tyler said jovially, coming to stand beside Ter. He opened his arms out to J'Stan. "Dad, I've missed you."

A groan escaped J'Stan at that moment, and his look changed from grief to joy as he saw Tyler standing there. He spun out of Andrei's grasp and ran to his son, grabbing Tyler in a great bear hug. For a long moment the two were oblivious to everything around them as they lost themselves in the hug.

"My son, my son!" J'Stan was saying over and over again. D'vad moved forward with a soft, gentle smile making his face practically glow. He stepped up to Ter and Andrei, who were now standing side by side, clasping hands.

"I don't know you two, I'm D'vad." He said, reaching his hand out. Andrei removed his had from Ter's clasp and shook it.

"I'm Andrei, he's Ter." Andrei introduced himself.

"I take it you're the one who broke through B'rel's illusions here?" D'vad inquired.

"Barely." Andrei said honestly. "There's a lot that has been happening."

"Yes, there has been." J'Stan said, turning around with his right arm now wrapped around his son's shoulders. His voice rose as he addressed all the Shapers there. "We need to meet and discuss what has happened, and what we are going to do now. I call a Conclave. Andrei, do you think we should meet in the Temple or at the Retreat on the moon?"

"The Retreat." Andrei said shortly, feeling his own wave of guilt rising. "There's some things I need to share with all of you as well."

"Very well," J'Stan said, giving Andrei a curious look. "Shapers, let us reconvene in the Retreat."

At his command, all the Shapers began to wink out as they teleported to the moon. Andrei, D'vad, Tyler, and Ter were the last to leave besides J'Stan. Andrei could tell that Ter was a little overwhelmed by the company he found himself in, and hung back a little, grasping Andrei's hand firmly.

"Let them have a chance to clean it up a little." J'Stan said to the others. "I know most of them will throw a fit when they see how overgrown it has gotten."

"Yeah, it was a little more ragged than I was expecting when I took Pico and Tish there." Andrei said with a small chuckle.

"Pico? Tish?" D'vad inquired.

"My brother and sister." Andrei answered.

"You must be pretty young, then to still have living family." D'vad said, a roundabout inquiry.

"Just turned eighteen the day I met J'Stan."

"J'Stan! Ten thousand plus years old and you still go picking up teenagers?" D'vad shouted, teasing his old friend. Everyone there smiled a little bit.

"Well, I kind of got distracted there for a bit." J'Stan extemporized, not realizing he was blushing. "They had to send a kid in to wake me up. Just so happens he was gifted and they way they sent him in activated his gift."

"What did they do, throw him through the doors?" Tyler asked, laughing.

"Actually, it was a catapult into the wall where I'd closed off the doors." J'Stan answered, causing everyone there but Ter and Andrei to gape at him.

"What he's not telling you is that he was in a...trance for three hundred years." Andrei said lightly. "Don't worry, it all worked out okay, kind of."

"Anyway, D'vad, Tyler, you both should know that I shared my memories with Andrei. All of them. He's not just a regular eighteen year old, not even a regular eighteen year old Shaper."

"Hate to be you." Tyler said to Andrei, a grin on his face. "I've only known him a few thousand years and I wouldn't want to have to put up with all his memories."

"I don't know, some of them are kind of fun. Besides, I'm not tempted to be a slut, since I already know what it's like to sleep around from J'Stan's memories." Everyone laughed at Andrei's joke, even Ter.

"Okay, enough reminiscing," J'Stan said firmly, his tone that of mock outrage. "Tyler, let the shield go, everyone else, see ya on the moon." J'Stan said, then quickly disappeared. Everyone winked out after him, Tyler last. Once they were gone, the shield faded, letting the Mists cover the last section of Earth that had been free of them. For now, Earth belonged to the Mists.

Ter definitely felt like he was buried in the field up to his neck. He sat in a small corner of the Shapers' Retreat, praying he wouldn't be noticed again. Who exactly he was praying to, he wasn't sure, since most of the prayers in his life had been offered up to one or another of the individuals surrounding him. Calming himself, he leaned back against the bark of a tree and examined once more this strange place on the surface of the moon.

When they had first arrived, the Shapers were aghast at the overgrown state of their Retreat. To most of them, this place was sacred. None of them had rested until the entire place looked once more as it had in their memories. Now the all lounged in a rough semi-circle facing a rock outcropping, on which J'Stan sat with D'vad, Tyler, and Andrei.

Ter had expected D'vad and Tyler to sit with J'Stan, and to be looked upon as leaders in this meeting. Of the twenty-four (twenty-five if he included himself) Shapers still living and present, J'Stan, D'vad, and Tyler had always been ranked among the leaders. The fact of Andrei's having being counted as their equal surprised Ter. Yet, none of the other Shapers seemed to resent his presence next to J'Stan.

Ter realized that he was still feeling lost from the memories of events that had been shared by J'Stan and Andrei. He knew parts of it, had been a player in some of the memories, but he was still disconcerted seeing himself through Andrei's...and J'Stan's eyes. Seeing the look on his own face when J'Stan and B'rel had appeared in Tylera was extremely odd, and funny. His surprise had been complete, so complete that he had allowed the two to convince him to leave Tylera unguarded and follow B'rel to the `secret' he was using to lure in J'Stan. Ter's attention was recalled as J'Stan began to speak.

"Well, let's begin" J'Stan started simply. "Has everyone had time to absorb the memories of recent events from Andrei and me?"

His question was met by nods from everyone but Ter. J'Stan stared at him a moment, and Ter realized J'Stan was waiting for him to answer. He nodded hesitantly, not really sure if he'd gotten everything, but unwilling to hold things up further.

"Good." J'Stan said after Ter's nod. His voice was firm and strong, almost commanding. "In the last few centuries, we all made mistakes that led us to where we are today. I don't want to here recriminations, blame, or any other negative bullshit. Is that clear?

Again there was a short pause as J'Stan met each person's eyes. This time Ter had no problem nodding vigorously. He noticed no one else hesitated at all either.

"Again, Good. Now we must decide what we are going to accomplish."

"We rebuild again, of course." Tyler said with youthful enthusiasm. Ter pondered for a moment the legends of the child-god. Many scholars had pointed him out as a symbol of how even the old can enjoy life. Thousands of years old, Tyler was known most for his youthful enthusiasm, and love of `fun' and for his unconditional love of life."

"It gets kind of tiring after the first, oh five times or so, to rebuild society." D'vad murmured quietly. Next to J'Stan, he was the oldest here.

"What other choice do we have, D'vad." A Shaper known as Liu Arza asked. "What are we without humanity alive and thriving?"

"How could we call living with the Mists for all eternity life?" another Shaper, T'ra asked. T'ra had been a Guardian before the Mists dominated the Earth.

"B'rel seemed to think there was a way to defeat the Mists" Liu said softly.

"Yeah, but killing Dad ain't gonna happen." Tyler said firmly.

"No, if he meant to kill him, he could have done that easier. We were all vulnerable there, he could have taken any of us out." Andrei spoke up for the first time. Ter shuddered to hear him speak, and looked at him, a longing filling him. They'd had no time alone since Andrei had left Tylera. Warmth filled him when Andrei's eyes met his, and a smile was sent his way.

"Then why did he not kill us?" Liu asked.

"Because he wasn't interested in us, just in J'Stan." Another Shaper said sharply. Ter recognized him easily as Z'lu. Z'lu had the darkest skin Ter had ever seen. Not that there weren't dark-skinned people in Tylera, but generations of mixing with lighter skinned people had not produced someone as dark as Z'lu in at least three generations. As he thought about it, Ter realized that there were more racial differences among the gathered Shapers than among the people now frozen in what had been Tylera.

"Then why didn't he kill J'Stan?" Liu persisted. Ter was surprised when the tree he was leaning against became unsubstantial, and he fell backwards. His surprise doubled when he realized he was looking up at a dark-skinned woman, even dark than Z'lu. Her answer caused all eyes to turn towards his corner.

"That's because the boy knew that killing J'Stan would solve nuttin. It was only J'Stan killing himself that would help." The woman said. Ter realized it must be the Zela woman Andrei had spoken with.

"Zela!" Andrei exclaimed, climbing to his feet. "I thought you and your people left!"

"Aye, we were leaving." She drawled out, pacing her way towards the rock Andrei shared. "We were done good and gone when we happened across you. Then after we left you, some of us started thinking. We decided to see what was happening, what you'd be doing."

"So you saw..."J'Stan said, his voice faint.

"Aye, your B'rel was on the right track, but his methods of execution left something to be decided." Zela said, her hands on her ample hips. "Young Andrei be a bright boy, even if he does stick by you, boy."

"Not many people call me `boy'." J'Stan said, his voice low and dangerous. Ter was distracted by something overhead, something moving against the backdrop of stars above the dome of the Retreat. He refocused his vision on the three men standing on the rock outcropping. His eyes caught Andrei's for a moment, and he felt his heart flutter. He could see Andrei looking at him with caring, and possibly love. It made him feel good inside, and he realized that he really did love the younger man.

"I do, I be older than you, youngling." Zela said, interrupting the eye contact between Ter and Andrei.

"What did you mean, B'rel was on the right track?" D'vad asked.

"Simple, he had half the right answers as to how to overcome the Mists..." Zela began to explain, but was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. The explosion was followed by the whoosh of air escaping. Ter's chest felt tight, and his head spun as the force of the escaping air lifted him off of the surface of the moon. For a moment, the sight of a dark-skinned man reaching towards him with glowing hands obscured his vision. As his vision dimmed, the image was replaced with that of Andrei's eyes and smiling face.

Frustrated was the best word to describe how J'Stan felt at the moment. Sitting on his old rock outcropping on the moon, memories dragged his attention away from the here and now. Memories of making love to Adam on this spot so many years ago demanded more attention from him than the discussions of D'vad, Liu and the other Shapers. His attention was only returned to the present by the appearance of the old woman Andrei had mentioned. Of course, as with so many other things in his long life, the moment when she started to give some real information, all hell broke loose.

He felt the energies being thrown against the Retreat too late to throw up a shield. The dome protecting the life here from the vacuum of space shattered. The concussive force knocked everyone except him and the old woman to the ground, and was immediately replaced with the whoosh of escaping air. Shrubs, plants, and small trees were sucked out of the hole that had been created. Moments later, several Shapers joined the flora in flying out the hole.

J'Stan watched in shock as a being, as dark-skinned as Zela latched onto Andrei's friend with glowing hands. It was only a few moments before Ter disappeared in a flare of blood red energy. Several other Shapers were being attacked similarly by other strangers, some light-skinned, others dark. All of them were strange to him. Now other Shapers were rising out of the hole, under the own volition, and a battle was joined above the ruined dome. J'Stan ignored that battle as he stared at the old woman still standing before him. He could feel Andrei and Tyler standing behind him, joining their powers together to support him if needed.

"What is going on, old woman?" J'Stan said, sneering the last two words out.

"It seems I wasn't the only one who decided to come back." She said simply, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"Why are they attacking us?" Tyler asked from his spot behind J'Stan.

"We've been debating it ever since you children first started to crawl with your powers. Sometimes it takes us a while to make decisions." Zela explained.

"It seems like the two sides are evenly matched." Andrei said softly, watching the battle overhead.

"Of course, that's why I didn't want to see this happen." Zela supplied tonelessly.

"Then why is it happening?" J'Stan asked her.

"Because they decided I was wrong, probably." She answered sharply as one of her side lost his life to a combined attack from D'vad and Liu.

"Stop it." J'Stan ordered softly.

"You stop it." She countered.

"I can't." J'Stan admitted.

"Neither can I." She also admitted.

"So we just watch people die?" Tyler asked, voice aghast.

"Unless you'd rather join them, or start a useless fight with me." She told him.

"You were about to explain some more about B'rel's assumptions." J'Stan reminded her.

"Yes." She said simply, sitting back down in the now dead grass. "Your boy realized something about the Mists that you have failed to achieve."

"What was that?" J'Stan asked softly.

"Are the Mists intelligent?" she asked.

"To a point, yes." J'Stan answered, recalling all of his, and others research into the Mists. "It's a basic intelligence though. More of an instinctive awareness than anything else."

"Exactly." The woman said firmly, leaning back a little with a smile on her face.

"So? We knew that already!" Andrei snorted. He kept sneaking glances upwards, and J'Stan could feel grief flowing from the young Shaper. Obviously he'd grown somewhat attached to his friend Ter.

"What's the source of the intelligence?" Zela asked quietly.

"We don't know that." Tyler announced.

"How would you characterize the intelligence?" she asked on a different tact.

"Characterize it?" J'Stan asked, his curiosity peaking.

"Yes, characterize it. How does it behave? What patterns do you see? What do you feel from it?"

"Hunger." Andrei answered.

"Pain" Tyler said.

"Desire." J'Stan whispered.

"Desire for what?" Zela asked.

"Death." J'Stan voice was hoarse.

"Exactly." Zela said, smiling again.

"Tell me, Justin Ackeman, when was the first time you saw the Mists?" she asked now.

J'Stan's head snapped back to her from the battle overhead at hearing his old name. Her question called up old emotions, old feelings as he remembered once more that first time in the hills of West Virginia. Behind him, he could feel Andrei accessing those memories he'd left, also reliving those events. He stood on the blasted ground of that camp site, staring at the dead figures of Jason and Curtis Parker, his first loves.

That original time, they were killed by a rogue agent named Corcoran. He was on his knees before Corcoran, pain filling him as the rogue agent attempted to seduce him, buy his help by threats to his sister and her family. J'Stan remembered the anger, the pain, the hunger for Corcoran's death that filled him. He remembered reaching inside himself, and changing time itself. It was that which created the first rift. The rift through which the Mists appeared.

More memories flooded into him, in the helicopter hovering above a camp consumed by the Mists. Working with a now-alive Jason and Curtis to seal that first rift. The strength of their first bonding, the glory of working together that first time drowned out the feeling emanating from the Mists. He hadn't noticed it then, but he did now. Realization flooded into him.

"They, those were the feelings I had when I...when I went back in time." J'Stan whispered at last. Andrei's hand on his shoulders was almost comforting, but he could feel the younger man's concurrence with his opinion. Tyler just stood there, eyes wide in surprise.

"Exactly, boy. You can see past your nose, if someone gives you a big enough pair of glasses." Zela said, her soft smile belying the harsh tone.

"It really is all my fault!" J'Stan nearly wailed aloud. He collapsed to his knees, tears streaming down his face, and Andrei and Tyler moved to wrap comforting arms around him.

"Boy, as much say it was my fault for not preventing the explosion of the bomb that caused all this." Zela said softly, a look of sympathy on her face. "I stood there, over the Iraqi desert while your special forces lowered the bomb into an inactive oil well. I watched when they set it off, thinking it would only affect oil within that sad country."

"You, you were there?" an astonished J'Stan asked.

"Of course." Zela said. "You Americans were so cocky, so sure of your superiority. It was making me sick watching you prance around trying to shape the world to your vision, heedless of the impact of your actions."

"Not all of us supported that..." J'Stan said, defending a long-dead nation.

"You allowed it to happen, didn't you?" Zela countered. "They were your elected leaders, weren't they? When you live in a society that chooses its own leaders, aren't the actions of those leaders the responsibility of all the people? Are not the people who gave power to the leaders responsible for the actions of those leaders?"

"You wouldn't have been pretty popular back then." J'Stan snorted softly, remembering a society that preferred to blame anyone but themselves.

"Of course, your whole society was obsessed with blaming everyone but themselves for what was going wrong. When people fail to take responsibility for their actions, it is only a matter of time before their society dies."

"If you were there, why didn't you stop it?" Andrei asked.

"Cause I thought you blasted Americans needed to be taught a lesson!" Zela said sharply. "They thought they were the rulers of every country, that whatever they wanted, they could take! They needed humility, so I let them shoot themselves in their own foot."

"Not realizing the ramifications in the long term." J'Stan whispered.

"I didn't know it would make you boys powered. Then, when they started using you boys too, well we helped out a few others to counteract your strength." Zela explained, her eyes looking downwards now.

"You helped Bjorn." J'Stan said flatly.

"Yes." Zela's answer was simple. "Another mistake."

"You're right when you say it wasn't all my fault. We all played a role in getting to where we are today." J'Stan said simply after calming his own rage at her admission.

"This is all well and good, but how do we fix things now?" Tyler said shortly.

"And how do we stop that?" Andrei added, waving his hand to the continuing fight above.

"That, we wait until everyone who survived gets too tired to fight anymore." Zela said, waiving her arms at the fight above as well.

"And the other, the Mists?" Tyler asked.

"Don't look at me, for that." Zela said simply, staring at J'Stan who stood with his head down.

"It's me, isn't it?" J'Stan mumbled. "That's why B'rel wanted me to kill myself. The key to the Mists is that it is part of me. I created it when I went back in time."

"Right you are, boyo, right you are. Your emotions at that time are what shaped the Mists, gave them a purpose." Zela said softly, tears shining in her eyes as J'Stan bathed in the agony of responsibility for billions of deaths.

Andrei stood back, stunned at the meaning of the words he had just heard. The concepts were too much for him. He gave voice to the frustration he felt and shouted out his pain. His shout was as much mental as physical. This caused a brief halt in the fighting above him, a lull he used to scan the figures scattered in that fight.

What he saw made his heart leap, or rather what he didn't see. Ter was missing. Panic filled him, and he lifted off the ground heading upwards. Behind him he barely felt Tyler joining him, leaving a grieving J'Stan alone on the moon with Zela. The void inside him turned to rage as he realized the Shapers were losing the fight, and that Ter was already a casualty.

Three of the strangers moved to intercept him, and he gave voice to his rage with a shout of power thrust at the three. The first one shrugged aside his attack, while the second grinned evilly and grasped him in a vise of power. Pain stabbed through him as the vise struck, and he gathered himself to shrug it off. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the third stranger intercept Tyler, locking him in a grasp that made them look like ancient wrestlers vying in the void of space.

A lance of pain returned his concentration to his own opponent. The first stranger now joined the second in strangling Andrei in a vise of power. Closer and closer to him it came, and no matter how hard he tried, the two of them were just too strong for him. All the knowledge of J'Stan, all those memories were of little use now. These strangers were just too different.

There was something odd about the attack though. Every time he'd faced a Shaper before, he could feel their desire for his death, their struggle to kill him. Now, though, he didn't feel that. All he felt was a cool contemplation of himself, of his abilities. It was almost as if they were studying him more than trying to kill him. For some reason, that shook his confidence even more.

Behind him, a mental scream of terror distracted him. He turned just in time to see Tyler glowing with a golden light, before disappearing forever. As the mental scream ended, grief welled up inside of him, grief at the loss of J'Stan's son. That was all the distraction his opponents needed and his grief turned to pain, before turning to nothing at all.

J'Stan pulled back inside himself, letting guilt rule him for a while. How long it was, he didn't know, seconds, hours, days, did it matter? It was the scream of terror, of pain that called him back to himself. The scream was laced with the essence of his son, Tyler! Moments later it was joined by another scream, this one also familiar. His outstretched mind was just in time to feel Andrei's death. He sank back to the surface of the moon amid the dead vegetation without feeling anything.

"How...typical. Alone again." He whispered into the void of space.

`It is over, J'Stan.' Zela's thoughts rang in his head. He looked up just in time to see the last of the Shapers fall. D'vad's death scream rang in his head as his old friend succumbed to ten of the strangers.

`Why?' he asked her.

`You boys were never meant to hold the power you had. We let you play too long. Now, humanity is almost dead. Eons before you came along, we took on the responsibility of shepherding the savages and seeing thousands of years of work disappear is just too much to take.'

`What are you going to do now?' he asked her, feeling totally empty inside.

`We are leaving, for good.' She said. Above them, ten more of the strangers appeared. Between them was a cocoon of power, holding the survivors of Tylera safely inside. They were still in stasis, frozen in time by Andrei.

`Those are my people.' J'Stan growled, regaining his feet as anger also rose in him.

Not anymore.' She said softly. We will take them to a planet we know, thousands of light years from here. We will wake them, rebuild human civilization with them. They are no longer any of your concern.'

What do you expect me to do?' J'Stan asked. None of you, or all of you together, aren't strong enough to kill me.'

Fix the mess you made, boyo.' Zela's mental voice was almost laughing. Fix the mess you made and maybe, in a few millennia, we'll return and replant humanity on this forsaken rock.'

Before J'Stan could respond, she disappeared. Immediately following behind her, the rest of the strangers, and the survivors of Tylera disappeared. He tried to follow them, but nothing he could do detected where they went. Moments later, he gave up in frustration and sank back to the surface of the moon.

Around him, dead vegetation crinkled as he sat down. Tears froze as they left his eyes. Inside he felt nothing but emptiness. The light around him changed a bit and he looked back up through the shattered dome. The Earth was rising above the horizon. Instead of the once beautiful blues, browns and green, all he could see was a uniform covering of the blue-grey mists. Rage filled him at the sight.

Rage at the Mists.

Rage at himself.

Zela's words resurfaced inside him, and he remembered again that fateful day when he had first traveled back in time. A thought drifted to the surface of his mind, and he acted without thinking further. The moon disappeared around him, replaced by the dark, chilly waters of an ocean.

`Let there be light!' he thought sarcastically, remembering the bible verse from a religion long dead. Light flared around him and he found himself standing on flat area that had been at the bottom of the ocean for thousands of years. Before that, it had been a temporary campsite in the middle of the West Virginia hills.

It had been here that he had faced Corcoran. It had been here that he had first admitted his love for the twins, Curtis and Jason. It had been here that he had first traveled backwards in time, and created the Mists. Rage filled him at his own stupidity. Why hadn't he ever come here before?

The answer was inside of him, as that old, all-consuming grief returned, unabated over thousands of years. Surrounded by the dead salt waters of the oceans, he added to their bitterness with his tears. They were gone, those first great loves. Newer, but no less severe grief joined the older grief. The grief was of Adam being dead at his own hands.

Behind him, he could feel the original rift. It was still sealed. He turned and faced it, though it was still invisible to his own eyes. Zela had said the Mists formed from his own state of mind when he first traveled back. Now, besides the Mists, he was the only living thing on the planet Earth. Grief and guilt consumed him as he reached out with his mind, touching the sealing he had knitted into it so long ago.

It was only a small thought, really. Yet it was all that it took. That one small thought cut through the knitting like a knife. Free of the constraint, the rift sprang open, billowing the water around it outwards, buffeting J'Stan lightly. He stood there, staring at the first rift, his creation, as a tendril of Mist snaked out of it. It coiled, the drifted a little, almost like it was tasting the water. It streaked for him, stopping at the last moment, mere inches from his face. It bobbed backwards, almost like it recognized him, then it struck. Pain seared through J'Stan as the tendril of Mist ate into his chest, and his mind, tearing both apart.

Ah! My last chance for a cliffhanger. Stay tuned for the last episode of Mists Of Fate -- The Price of Salvation. Coming soon to a website near you!