The storm crept over them almost unexpectedly. The evening sky surged with dark and menacing clouds. Large, fluffy clouds began to fall from the heavens. Sardonios turned on the windshield wipers and they scrubbed the break proof window with a loud squeaking sound. He reached out with his right hand to turn on the internal window defroster system and then gripped the steering wheel with both hands.

“Looks like we will not be getting to the site before the storm,” he said. “Thankfully we have hit the end of the highway systems and we now only have about a half hour left of driving. Hang on everyone, it may get bumpy from here on in.”

Sardonios slowed the Nissan Sentra down a bit and slowly started the final trek to the destination. Everyone looked out the windows and saw the darkness creep over the sky. They sucked in a gasp of air when they saw the beautiful colors begin to swirl and spread across the night sky. Even Sardonios had to pull over to the side of the road just so he could watch the colors spin and unravel high in the heavens.

“Would you look at that,” Paige said, “It is so beautiful. Look at that tendril of color. It almost looks like an ethereal arm of see through fire. It is hard to believe that that is what is causing all the eruptions, earthquakes, and other catastrophes going on around the world. When you see something like that in the night sky, all you can really do is think that God does exist and that all this is just part of his beauty. Do you not think.”

Tristian put his arm around Paige, “Nature does some pretty strange things, I must admit. I did not think that I would ever see something so awe striking in this lifetime. And I have seen quite a bit of things that would make your jaw drop as low to the ground as it could. But I have never seen magic come up and out of the world like that. I would wager that no one else thinks that something as magnificent would bring an end to anything. But it is.”

“We should get going again,” Xep said, her voice sounding a bit sad, “We still have to deal with the storm and I would like to get the car to our destination before we end up having to hike the last miles to the location in the cold. I am sure that Paige would agree.”

“Oh yes, I whole heartedly agree with you there Xep. Come on Sard, mush!”

The car moved steadily across the landscape. A steady stream of cars came from the opposite direction, people inside the metal boxes talking excitedly and gesturing wildly at the dancing smoke above them. Their actions intrigued Xep, who watched with curiosity and awe. She could not fathom what it would be like to not feel or see the magic that was coming up and out of their lands. She could not understand how anyone could not see how damaging it was to their world. She knew that some humans, who were in tune with the seasons and the natural energies could feel that something was coming but they always eluded to something more mystical, something that they always called the twenty twelve phenomena. No one seemed to be taking it as seriously as she and her companions were and that made her feel very sorry for the rest of the population on the planet.

Forty five minutes later, they finally reached the site. There were only a few cars parked out in a make shift parking lot. Signs had been posted around the grounds that said, “Recreation Pass required. Please display valid pass when parked at this site.” Next to the text of the sign there was an image of an orange and black rectangular picture of a pass. A long black strip with monthly abbreviations and the two digit year dates stripped the right side of the card, while the orange side contained various pieces of information.

They got out of the car and were immediately blasted with cold, arctic air. “Holy hell, it is freezing out,” Paige said in her all too colorful language. “Can we get moving? I will become a popsicle stick if we stay out here for too much longer.”

Xep did not feel the cold and instead wandered over to a larger sign and read the words written on it. “The Northwest Forest Pass is a vehicle pass honored at day use sites in Oregon and Washington where ‘Recreation Pass Required’ signs are posted. A current list of recreation sites participating in the program is available at Forest Service offices in Oregon and Washington. Revenues from pass sales go directly to maintaining and improving the trails and facilities you use and enjoy. The pass does not cover fees for opportunities such as: Sno Parks (winter season), Some concessionaire operated sites, developed campgrounds, and cabin rentals, wilderness, climbing and river permits. For more information call 1-555-342-6326.”

Xep cocked her head and smiled at the bureaucracy that seemed to run just as rampant on this side of the veil. “Ah, I guess that is one thing that we both share now,” she said out loud to the sign that had icicles flowing down the sides and a two inch cap of ice on the top.”

She kicked the sign with the toe of her boot and watched the snow fall off of the sign. Something solid hit her back and she whipped her wings open and closed. She turned around to see Tristian and Paige holding clumps of snow in their gloved hands. “What was that all about,” she asked curiously.

Paige looked at her, and then over at Tristian, and giggled as she threw the clump of snow in her hand at him, “It is called a Snow Ball fight!” The wad of white hit Tristian square in his chest. He then retaliated by tossing what he held in his hand back at her. Xep bend down at the knees and looked at the snow. She scooped up a handful in her right hand and let it sit there. The pile slowly began to melt in it. She stared at it and then wadded it up by wrapping her own fingers around the pile. Watching Paige and Tristian she waited for the perfect opportunity and then tossed the snowball at Paige. It hit her smack dab in the back.

She whipped around and faced Xep, “Hey what was that for?”

Xep smiled and stood up, “Tag. You are it. I just hit you with a snowball. Is that not what you wanted me to do?”

Paige got a look of revenge in her eyes as she scooped up more ice and snow, “Okay missy. That is it. You are so going down,” she said as another snowball thrown by Tristian whizzed past her head. The three of them ran around one another in the snow as they attempted to cover one another in as much of the fluffy, white stuff as possible. They paused as they heard a throaty sound behind them.

“Do we not have a mission to complete here, children,” came the voice of reason out of the frowning mouth of Sardonios. He dumped a backpack on the ground. “Come on, this storm and the coneal seem to be picking up. I would like to at least figure out what we have to do sooner than later.”

Dejected the three companions looked at one another and dropped the snowballs that were in their hands. “We are sorry,” Xep said, “I guess we just got carried away.”

Xep ran over and grabbed the backpack. They turned and followed the hard packed snow trail over to the fissure. A makeshift wooden fence had been set up to protect the curious from getting too close to the hole that had opened up and formed into a circle in the ground. No one was around so they all hopped the four foot fence. Tristian had to help Xep over it as the fence was almost as tall as she was.

They slowly approached the hole, half expecting the ground to open up and swallow themselves into it. Sardonios removed a small device of some sort from his pocket. “This measures the chemical composition of what is in the ground and atmosphere. I need to get an idea of what chemicals we are dealing with before I can propose a solution. Of course it will not be as accurate as I want because we cannot go into the hole and get to the bottom without killing us.”

Xep nodded and used her own enhanced vision from to do some research of her own. Meanwhile, Tristian and Paige stomped off to take a look at the stone portal to see if they could reactivate it and use it to help.

Twenty minutes later, after reviewing all the angles, they had a rough first plan formulated. The stone portal had not been recently activated and would not be useful. However, Tristian was able to free one of the activation crystals buried within one of the stones. “This might help,” he said holding it out, “who knows what energies it may contain. If anything it may help to draw the coneol back into the earth’s core. So I say we use it and see if it works.”

Sardonios nodded, “I think that if we combine that crystal, a device putting out the harmonic frequency of the core, and maybe a magnet together and then send that down into the core, it might help to draw the coneal back into the core, or make it inert. If we can calm that stuff down, perhaps it will just automatically heal itself.”

“I have no idea what you just said,” Paige said, “but it sounds all very smart and scientific. I say we go for it.”

“Give me a few minutes to rig up a recording device with some sound waves. Xep, can you help me do this?” Sardonios said.

“Sure thing Sard. This body can come in very handy for that as it records sounds and waves. We can get the exact pinpoint curve and then drop it down.”

It took them about fifteen minutes to rig out a recording device so that it could send out a steady

“I wish we had more of these things and of the crystals. I would have liked to test this in my laboratory first before doing a live test run. That way we could know for certain whether or not it would work,” Sardonios said as he duct taped the crystal to the outside of the metal case of the recording device. “I hate going in cold.”

Xep smiled and listened as the sound vibrated against the crystal, making a barely audible high pitched tuning hum. “Well, I can tell you that the two are vibrating. And if we hold it up into the sky it does seem to be affecting the colors and the shape that the coneol is flowing in.”

Sardonios looked up and indeed it was true. Xep waved the contraption over her head and where it came into contact with the coneol, the vibrations caused the stuff to dull the colors and force the particles in the air to come down and out of the sky.

”Yes I see that, this is most indeed hopeful,” he responded. “Come on, let us go drop it down.”

The four wandered over to the edge of the hole. Xep looked down at the rubbery item in her hand. The humming grew louder to her ears and she smiled. “I almost feel like something should be said, you know, to send all of our hopes down into the hole.”

Tristian smiled and said, “A cruce salus. Ad honorem. From the cross comes our salvation. In honor.”

Paige leaned against Tristian as Xep lowered her hand near the opening of the hole. The duct taped device rolled off her hand and began its deep descent into the core. They stood by the side of the fissure, waiting. A few minutes after they released it Xep lost track of the vibrations. “I lost track. I think it either got burned up or it made it.”

The looked down deep into the hole. “Did that work,” Paige said. “I do not see anything happening nor does it seem like the stuff in the air is getting any less bright. In fact, it looks like the stuff is coming up and out of the hole faster. Xep, what does your eyes show you?”

Xep walked closely to the fissure and bent down. She turned her vision abilities from normal to spectral to night and assessed all angles of the hole. The data depressed her. There seemed to be no change in the atmosphere or the conditions down in the hole. The attempt failed.

“Power reserves almost depleted. Please seek recharge destination. Connection failure. No power can be accepted at this time. Return to the depot for re-infusion.”

“It did not work. I am afraid that our time has run out,” Xep called. “Sardonios, the elixirs you made me, while wonderful have just stopped working. The voice inside this body refuses to shut up. It is telling me that shut down is immanent. We have failed.”

Sardonios blinked in shock and fear, “But you told me they were working. That you had enough to help you complete your mission. I do not understand what is going on or what went wrong. I spent hours working on that recipe and it should have done the trick.”

“Sard,” she said pushing against the wind to stand next to his side, “You did everything right. I lied to you. I did not want you, or the others, for that matter to worry about me. They did work great, in the beginning, but as I drank more and more, I found that they did not last as long. I do not think this body was meant to have something like me trapped inside of it for so long. I think it is corroding the systems. I am sorry that I lied to you. I just did not want anyone to worry about me.”

“Well my dear,” Sardonios retorted, “it is a little too late for that. I think that the past few weeks have proven that quite effectively, have they not? I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a family and you three have certainly become that.”

Xep closed her eyes and tried to block the noise out of her head. She felt crestfallen at having failed in her attempt to close the fissure. More over, she felt bonded to these people and felt disgruntled at herself for having failed to speak the truth when she first noticed that the mineral infused, magical potion’s effect started slipping off on her.

Her eyes went wide, “Wait a minute.” Xep said, placing her hand on the right shoulder of Sardonios, “I think I have it. We tried sending some metal component down there just now, right?”

Sardonios nodded but waited to see where this was going before responding. The scholarly side of him started spinning up ideas and hypotheses but he tried hard to push them aside so they did not color what his friend was about to say.

“But that did absolutely nothing. In fact, the atmosphere seems to be kicking up more and more coneol and things are getting worse. Whether or not that was already planned or as a result of our doing is something we cannot determine without going down there. But in any case, I think we were going about this all wrong. The way to heal the fissure is not to send just crystals or sound waves down there to contain it. Nor is it to cast just magical things at it. What we need is an infusion, a large infusion of both metal and magic. Then we send that into the hole and when the thing hits the core, it should send a powerful explosion or a shock wave through the whole core and fissures that will be powerful enough to close it.”

Sardonios pushed some of the ice and snow out of his eyes. He stared at Xep and thought long and hard about what she was saying. “I understand the premise, and think it has merit. Unfortunately, where are we going to find an elixir of the right metals and magical energies to dump down there. I am sure that the small potions I have made for you will not cut it.”

“They will not,” Xep said. She frowned and turned away from her companion before continuing on. “There is only one thing left that we can do here. I am the solution. I must dive down into the core and use myself, and this body to heal it. I have no idea how I got into this body but somehow I have bonded and fused myself. There is no guarantee that even if we had something else to use that it would work. However, the fact that I was born of magic and now in this metal body, it should do the trick.”

By now, Tristian and Paige arrived by their side. They held on to one another as the winds continued to gain in speed.

“What is going on?” Paige yelled out, “You guys look like you are arguing. What do we do now?”

Sardonios turned away from Xep and stared at his companions, “She is crazy. Really crazy. Xep thinks that if she tosses herself down that hole that the combined fusion of what she once was in her earlier form, and the form she is now…. will somehow make everything right again. It is almost as if she wants to play the part of a martyr and die.”

Tristian looked from the agitated Sardonios and back over to Xep, who by now had wandered close to the edge of the fissure. He quickly tromped over to where she was standing, her eyes trained almost hypnotically at the edge of the fissure. “Are you crazy? Do you not know what you are saying?”

“I know perfectly well what I am saying,” Xep said but continued to keep her eyesight trained on the glowing world below. “It is crazy and I wish to the makers above that there was something else we could do but this is it. This is the only other thing that could possibly bring an end to it all. I know I promised you passage home but I think I will not be able to keep my word.”

“Screw that,” Tristian said, “I am more concerned about your welfare. You will die if you go down there and we have no proof that this will work.

Xep stared at the hole as the sound in her head started drowning out their pleas. She closed her eyes and thought about her friends and the Council on the other side. She raised her arms and let the wind wash over her. “Help me,” she whispered to the sky.