Nemesis: Conclusion

The rain pelted down from the dark sky and matted his dark gray fur to his slender body; struggling to stand back up on his four shaky legs, he looked up at the small back cat that hovered high in the air above the roof of the apartment building.

As the cat's black fur glistened in the rain, it glared down at the wizard cat with power-crazed eyes that glowed with red malice.

He was outmatched, his black cat nemesis had accumulated too much dark energy, and his own feeble light magic could not withstand the onslaught the misleadingly harmless-looking cat had rained down upon him.

Another barrage of the dark lightning and the battered cat wizard would be finished.

Nevertheless, he would not face his end on bended knee, as the malevolent cat above him would want; he would stand in defiance of the darkness, even if it took the rest of his already depleted energy to do it.

The black cat growled in anger as the cat wizard stood once more and shook the drenching rain from his face.

Descending closer to the rooftop, the black cat's glowing red eyes intensified as the power within him built up and his hissed maniacally; the weak and wavering wizard cat prepared for oblivion.

A flash of light erupts, blinding the defiant cat momentarily as he lets it wash over him; lets the end come.

The intense light fades however, and he opens his eyes to see a figure standing before him, shielding him from the fatal blast.

Ralph looks back at him as the black cat's beams reflect off the powerful barrier of light emanating from Ralph's hands.

A moment of confusion grips the little cat wizard and he looks over to the roof's access hatch to see the pretty woman in her rain soaked floral dress watching on worriedly.

Ralph loses a step and the sound of sliding gravel makes the cat look back to his human, who struggles against the black cat's powerful magic blast, which intensifies with each passing moment.

Ralph struggles, even though he is obviously a very powerful wizard in his own right to withstand that much dark energy. That was the fact that had caught the cat wizard by surprise, for, up until very recently, he had always though his human roommate a very dull human being indeed.

"Arg!" Ralph exclaims in duress, which brings the cat out of his stunned state to see the human wizard struggling to maintain the deflecting spell which was saving them both at the moment.

With intense strain in his eyes, Ralph looks down to his cat companion.

"Come on, Mr Fluffernutters!" He shouts, "I can't do this alone!"

It was his hatred of his own name more than anything else that raised Mr. Fluffernutter's ire to the point he no longer felt the bruises and pains that wracked his little body, and gave him the strength to make the great bounding leap to Ralph's shoulder.

Digging his claws into the fabric of Ralph's sports coat, Mr. Fluffernutters adds a blast of his own magic to Ralph's and a radiating blast of dark and light energy explodes with a booming resonance.

And everything is awash with light.

As he curled up on the couch between Ralph and his lady friend, the great and powerful cat wizard Mr Fluffernutters tried to lick his bandaged paws to no avail.

After their battle, Ralph had explained to him that he too had felt the dark power growing, and his new special lady, Morgese, had become more and more fearful of her cat, Professor Jingles; who it seemed had been exhibiting very unsettling behaviour, which he, also being a wizard, had recognized as signs that the cat was indeed a dark wizard, an agent of evil.

It was not until they had come back from the occult store, where he had been asking an old conjurer friend about any human spells that would work against cat magic, and saw the two of them having a wizards' duel on the roof tops, that he realized that Mr Fluffernutters was a wizard as well.

Each use of his name made the cat wizard growl angrily, causing the two humans to laugh at his annoyance, and tell him to stop being such an old cranking puss.

They then settled in to eat their microwavable meals while watching their favourite game show on the TV.

Mr Fluffernutters huffed loudly, but rested his chin on Morgese's leg and soon began to purr contently as she stroked his still singed fur.

Nemesis pt.2

It had been almost a month since the wizard cat had realized his evil nemesis was living in the apartment building across the way; living with the new lady-friend of his human roommate, Ralph.

And the tension was reaching a boiling point.

His evenings were no longer spent watching television on the couch with Ralph, who was too caught up with his new lady love to spend much more time on him than it took to fill his food bowl before rushing out to meet the woman from across the street.

Instead, the cat sat in their living room window and stared at his nemesis, the green-eyed, black cat that looked intently back at him from the woman's darkened bedroom window; sparks nearly shooting out of each of the cats' eyes as the gazed at each other until the darkness of night shrouded them in the shadows of their empty apartments.

His days were full of restless naps that were constantly interrupted as he compulsively peeked over the window sill to try and catch a glimpse of the other cat doing the same, but the black cat never seemed showed himself in the daylight hours.

At night, deep within the walls of the apartment, the wizard cat searched fervently to find a spell powerful enough to protect himself, Ralph, and hopefully the rest of the city from the dark magic that was radiating from the cat across the street.

Yet, each hour slipped away without yielding much more than a different variation of this warding spell or another.

So much of the benevolent and good magical energy had faded from the world, and now there was very little left, and very few who could still conjure it.

Dark energy was more abundant with each passing day, and the wizard cat could feel it amassing in the unassuming apartment of Ralph's lady fair.

The days and nights blurred into one another as the weeks went on and still no spell powerful enough could be found, he was at his wits end and feeling drained from the constant barrage of malice directed at him from the unwavering stare of the black cat each evening.

Then came a night when Ralph and the woman had gone out on the town and left both cats alone in their respective apartments. As the wizard cat sat waiting for his nemesis to show himself, there came a rumble of thunder in the distance and the skies blackened prematurely with dark storm clouds filled with flashes of crackling lightning.

A crash of lightning hit behind the building close by and all the power went out in the neighbourhood, plunging the buildings into darkness.

Still intently staring at the window across the street, the wizard cat saw the figure of the sleek, black cat hop down from its usual spot on the bed and, as another flash of lightning brightened the sky for a moment, the cat bounded out of the room.

The wizard cat transferred his focus to the next window which was the kitchen as a flash of green light hit the apartment door, causing it to open slightly; enough for a cat to slip out of.

Quickly, he leaped from the window sill himself and ran for the door to their apartment. Hitting the door with disengagement charm, it opened enough for him to wiggle his way out of and into the red emergency light-lit hallway and continued to trot hurriedly toward the fire exit.

Using a transparency spell, the wizard cat passed through the thick, metal door and raced up the stairwell to the very top, which did not lead to a residential floor, but the maintenance hatch to the roof above.

Levitating himself up and through the locked hatch, he found himself on the gravel-covered roof, under the dark skies filled with menacing storm clouds that threatened to burst forth with rain at any moment.

Bounding to the roof's edge, he put his front paws up on the ledge and scanned the rooftop of the building across the street. Another flashing of lightning revealed his green-eyed nemesis to be standing, staring wildly back at him.

There would be no more time for searching for an appropriate spell, the time had come at last; the wizard cats would battle for the fate of the city tonight!

Nemisis

Once there was a great and powerful wizard, who also happened to be a cat.

Although he was a very potent wizard, the cat chose to live with a very ordinary human named Ralph in a one bedroom apartment in the east end of the city.

And even though the great and powerful wizard cat could conjure spectacular spells and wield magnificent amounts of magic, Ralph had no idea he lived with such a cat sorcerer.

He was a very dull and ordinary human.

Most days the cat lounged in the comfy, sun-faded chair that sat beside the big picture window of the living room and soaked up all of the glorious rays from the afternoon sun.

When Ralph returned home from work in the evenings, they would sit and watch their evening game shows together as they ate; Ralph his single, microwavable dinner and the cat his fish-smelling canned food.

Then, in the late hours of the night, after Ralph was sleeping soundly in his bed, the cat would begin to weave his magical experiments.

In the dim shadows of the his clandestine workshop between the walls, the cat wizard practised his ancient arts, poring over the multitude of spells scrolls he had collected over his long years, building his repertoire of enchantments and charms; all the while, searching for a spell powerful enough to protect him from what was coming.

For sometime now he had felt a great force building, a shadow creeping in secret across the city; an evil presence that threatened his thoughts with a probing malice.

After long hours of searching and spell work, the cat would lumber groggily out from the maze of passageways behind the walls in time to curl up in his bed at the foot of Ralph's just before the human awoke to his bleating alarm to get ready for his day.

Conjuring so much magic, even for a powerful wizard such as the cat was, was draining and he needed to rest in the sun's replenishing beams to regain his strength for the next night's work.

One evening, Ralph came home, yet seemed to be in a hurry, but not to put his meal in the microwave. The normally dull human rushed around the apartment, changing out of his work attire, showering, shaving, and putting on a clean shirt, slacks, and a tie.

He slopped the cat's can of food in the bowl before giving the wizard a hurried scratch on the head and heading out the door, humming to himself.

The confused cat trotted up to the window to look down at the building's entrance and watch his human companion exit and walk jauntily along the sidewalk, cross the street, and approach the apartment across the way.

Ralph rang the building's buzzer and stood worriedly for a moment before he answered whoever had spoken through the speaker before opening the door for him to enter excitedly through.

He disappeared into the building and the cat scanned the lit windows of the low-rise apartment building to hopefully see if Ralph showed up in one of them.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, in the window directly across from their apartment, a young woman in a pretty floral dress hopped up from her kitchen chair and went to open the door, revealing an awkwardly smiling Ralph whom she invited in.

The cat chuckled to himself as he thought that Ralph might not be so dull after all.

As the two went to sit down in the living room, as wave of menace came over the cat, the feeling of dread he had felt over the passed few months bore down on him with such intensity it nearly bowled him over.

Looking over to what was most-likely Ralph's new lady friend's bedroom, the wizard cat saw the dark outline of another cat sitting in the window, staring directly back at him.

The two cats gazed at one another, and the cat wizard knew that this was who he had been preparing for; this green-eyed cat was his nemesis.

And his roommate was on a date with its owner.

Under the Mountain

Once, long ago, there were two kingdoms that lay sprawled out on either side of a great mountain, and for many years they lived in peace and harmony with one another. Their trading and diplomatic business was conducted through grand tunnels that ran through the mountain depths, and both kingdoms thrived and prospered.

The rulers of each kingdom, powerful emperors, would often visit one another's cities and celebrate their peaceful existence with festivals and revelries to which all their surrounding allies would attend.

So it was that that the young son of one emperor and the young daughter of the other met on one such occasion and became the closest of friends.

All year long, each would wait with excitement until the next visit to see their friend and they would play and laugh during the festivals; marvelling at the exotic animals that were brought in from far and wide, enjoying the strange and delicious treats from the vendors, and watching in awe during the fireworks displays that lit up the starry night skies.

Soon, as it is oft to happen, the young friendship grew into more as their feelings for each other evolved into love and they would not wait until the next festival, but sneak out into the mountain tunnels to meet one another in secret.

In the multitude of tunnels that snaked through the base of the mountain, they had discovered a hidden chamber midway from each entrance, and there they would meet and be with each other, promising their undying love to one another.

Unfortunately, peace between nations sometimes only last when there is prosperity for both, and soon the dark shadow of famine fell upon the kingdom to the south of the mountain while the kingdom to the north, still prosperous, began to increase their prices for the goods and services they had always provided fairly.

The shadow grew through long months and became the darkness of war between the two kingdoms.

All the while the young lovers continued to meet in secret until her father's spies discovered their clandestine rendezvous and relayed the information to their emperor.

He forbade her from seeing the young prince and in his fury, gave orders to destroy the mountain tunnels, thus cutting his enemies and their young love off forever.

Unaware of the eminent destruction of the tunnels, the young prince stole away from his family's palace and went to meet his adored one in their secret chamber deep within the mass of rock and stone that separated them.

Horrified at the thought of her love being crushed underneath the mountain when her father's army set off their explosive powders, the princess escaped her chambers and fled to the tunnels' entrance.

Perhaps she could get to him before the tunnels were caved-in and they could escape far away to the west or barring that, at least that they could be together for eternity, buried deep in their mountain tomb.

She was within sight of the darkened gates of the tunnels' carved entrance when the massive blast exploded in a fiery flash like flames out of some terrible dragon's gaping maw and she fell to her knees as her heart broke with more force than did the mountain itself.

Weeping for her love she vowed never to leave from where she knelt and that she too, would become as the stone that buried him.

Try as they might, the emperor's guards, alchemists, and even the Emperor himself could not move her, as she had indeed become as immovable as the very stone of the mountain.

And there she remains, still kneeling, alone, all remnants of the two kingdoms eroded away over the millennia, leaving only her stone image, untouched, weeping for her love entombed deep within in the ancient tunnels.

Enwrapping him through the very rock she had become part of, the two lovers embrace forever more, under the mountain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvPgndy5frA

Black Tower Return

Against the hazy horizon it stands starkly contrasting the golden glow of the dawn sun, the Black Tower radiates its darkness into the very air that surrounds it; its evil trying to bleed into the world as it has always attempted to.

Its true nature hidden from the rest of the world, the Tower cannot hide from me. I see it, not as the modern, sky-scraping building that it disguises itself as to the rest of the citizens that dwell in its shadow, but as the ancient abode for the earliest of evils.

Throughout history it has always been, not always in the same location, not always taking the guise of the looming monolith against the sky; sometimes as the tower of an ancient stronghold, or a lone lighthouse on the cliffs surrounded by the crashing sea, or even as a sacred cathedral on occasion.

Yet, how ever it has hidden itself in plain sight, I too have been there to prevent the evil within from seeping out into the world and infecting it like a deadly virus, and turning it into a insidious nightmare from which there is no waking.

Over countless years I have fought my way to the Black Tower; fought my way inside and to the very apex, to face the evil that I always find there, each time, sacrificing myself in order to prevail.

Though, this time it has taken me much longer to find my way here, to realize my purpose. So much of this time is distraction. In days gone by, I was able to focus my attention, sharpen my mind against the darkness that threatens to envelop the world, but this time feels different.

This time feels as if too much of the Tower has leached its way into the world; leached its way into the hearts of the people. And it is growing.

Perhaps my spirit has grown tired and weary, having battled the undying evil of the Tower over and over, through the millennia, but this time feels different, this time feels wrong.

As I stand looking out over the sprawling cityscape, the Black Tower looming ominously in the distance, I feel alone.

I feel that I am missing a part of myself, the part that gave me strength in times of yore.

Did I have a companion once? One who fought along side me, as we moved as one, our combined strength out-matching even the primordial evil of the Tower?

If so, where have you gone, my friend? Did you fall in battle some time before and throughout the years I have forgotten you? Or did the evil behind the Black Tower find away to wipe you from my memories?

Where are you now; now, when I need you most; now when I face the Tower once more, alone and unsure.

The sun rises up from behind the Tower's dark outline and its golden light falls upon me, warming the chill that has descended upon my heart.

From behind, far off in the distance, a fierce roar echoes out and I turn to look over my shoulder as a memory blossoms in my mind and a smile appears across my face.

Have you return, my old friend? Have you come to my aid once again?

With a roar of my own I charge forward down the slopping hill, courage and strength returning back to me as you have done, and even as I race along, I can feel you fast approaching to join me. Your strong legs hurtling you along, coming up strong so I can almost feel your breath on my neck from behind.

Not even death could keep you from my side, could it, my trusted friend? Come; let us face the Black Tower once more; come, let us roar.

In response, you bellow thunderously, heralding our charge.

Be warned it cries out to the Tower and the evil therein; man and beast have come for you once again.

Underneath

Lately, I have been fixated by the idea that there is another me living directly underneath me.

Not in the apartment beneath mine, or even in the basement, but underneath the very ground, mirroring my every action, my every movement in a world opposite my own.

It began a few weeks ago when I was out for a jog in the park. I had taken the wooded path that went through the thick canopy of the trees, to get away from the hot sunlight; becoming distracted by how the rays of light flitted through the leaves prettily, I tripped on an exposed root and fell sprawling onto the hard-packed ground.

I was surprised more that hurt, yet the impacted winded me for a moment and lay there, feeling the cool soil against my skin.

Pushing up with the palms of my hands, I instantly felt the sensation of my palms coming into contact with what seemed like someone else's hands pushing back just underneath the surface.

The sensation startled me more than the fall and I scrambled back up to my feet and stared at the impression I had made on the ground. There was indeed the outlines of my hands but they were not depressed into the soil as they should have been from the impact, they only seemed level with the surface, as if they had been pushed back into position from the other side.

Shaking my head, I disregarded the thought and continued on my run, but that night, as I lay in bed, my mind drifted back to that sensation of someone underneath me on the ground and started to ponder if there were other dimensions sitting right next to this one, why could there not be one below; a world just underneath the surface where our opposites live and go about their lives counter balanced to those in this one.

The idea festered in the back of my head, distracting me during the day as I tried to focus on my work, and then consuming my thoughts while I walked home each night. A few times I nearly walked straight out into traffic because I was too busy looking down at the sidewalk under my feet, fooling myself into imagining feeling the footfalls of my opposite on the soles of my shoes through the concrete.

Searching online and even going to the library to research books on physics and theories of multiple universes, I became obsessed with the subject. Though, in all of the books and articles, most spoke of dimensions stacked metaphorically on top of one another, not actually sitting beside or on top of each other.

None mentioned being able to actually feel the other pushing back, but each day I became more convinced I could; convinced that the fabric between me and my other was somehow wearing thin.

The question is: could it wear out?

What if, through our constant contact with the thinning floor between our worlds we manage to tear a hole in the fabric between our worlds and we fall through, sucking everything down into each other's dimension, causing both to collapse into each other; obliterating both.

I know how ridiculous this sounds, and I cannot explain how it is possible, yet I believe that is what is happening. That is why I am writing to you.

I have stopped leaving my apartment; stopped setting foot on the floor unless absolutely necessary, for fear any more contact with fabric of the floor between our dimensions will only further damage it, thus destroying both our worlds.

I know you are reading this letter as we write it, so please, I implore you, stay off the ground; stay off the floor, and I will do the same.

Though I fear the damage is already done, I can feel you underneath me now; feel you sitting cross-legged on your bed, writing this letter to me as well.

The Darkness Below

The darkness was encroaching, soon it would swallow the light and there would be nothing; nothing except oblivion.

Looking up toward the shimmering rays of light that danced above him just outside the dome of the void he now sank further down into; teasing him, the heavenly beams seemed to pull away from him as he swung out a flailing arm to somehow grab hold and pull himself out of the blackness that threatened to suck him down below.

For a moment he let himself float in between the darkness and the light, the calm of the muffled silence washing over him even as the burning within his chest intensified. It was peaceful down here, all the troubles and stresses of the world above slowly fading as he began to drift downward.

He looked away from the mocking light and down into the dark; down into the vast blackness of the void, and felt it calling out to him to let go and let it enfold him within its icy arms.

However, his glance happened upon what he held in his left hand, the object that had brought him down into the deep in the first place, and the vividness of life above came back to him and he once again found himself filled with the desire to be in the light.

A surge of energy run through his body and he kicked and clawed his way out of the suffocating dark up into the dancing beams of light that played near the surface.

With a final, agonizing push of his exhausted arms he felt himself break through and out into the open air above.

Holding his treasure high in his left hand, he gave a triumphant shout as he gasped for air to fill his almost depleted lungs.

Blinking as the water dripped down his brow into his eyes he orientated himself so he faced his family who were gathered on the dock of their cabin on the sunny lake.

Wearily, he started to swim toward them as the shouted encouragingly for him to come back out of the water, all the while, holding his left arm in the air, not wanting his trophy to touch the inky waters ever again.

"I found it!" He tried to shout as water sloshed into his mouth and he sputtered and coughed. "I found Jimmy's shoe!"

He clutched tiny child's Velcro running shoe in his hand as if it were the most precious treasure the world had ever known.

"Good job, honey!" his wife said somewhat proudly. "But you didn't have to jump in after it, we have another three pair. They were on sale."

Her words could not tarnish his triumph as he swam close to where his son sat on the dock's edge, wearing his little, yellow life jacket, swinging his legs out over the water; one bare-footed, the other still wearing the matching shoe to the one he had dove down into the deep for.

Swinging his legs happily as his father came splashing toward him, Jimmy laughed; laughing and swinging; swinging and laughing.

Until, as he watched, Jimmy's other shoe was flung off his chubby little foot, arced into the sun-filled air, and then landed with a plunk into the deep, blue waters of the lake and began immediately to sink.