Where Fire and Ice Mix

Author's note 1: I do not have an editor, and while I did go through and catch most spelling errors those I could not find the correct spelling for I marked with a **double asterisk**. Any others was missed or on purpose (As in an ascent).

Author's note 2: This is a first draft stile submission.

Where Fire and Ice Mix 2

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Note: I'd like to point out that the basic language used is Beasten that I've translated into English, including the accent used by the dwarf. Also some words will not translate directly or translates offensively; in this case the

'phrase will be marked in this way', without the underlining that marks this segment.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Merrath blinked at Ghost's statement and asked, "Why an assassin, not a Mage?"

Ghost gave a lopsided grin, "You told me your spell is easier. Also that the people that was turned vanish. Tara was going to use me and Gerrof to concur this world using the shape sifting abilities she gave us and me using my people's weapons. But with an easier way between and the, what did you call them? Dread Bloods? Someone could take over both worlds using my people here and yours there. I need to know how the spell works."

Merrath looks at Gerrof, Topaz and Wanderleaf and sighs, "Ghost, have you looked at our night sky?"

Wondering where this is headed, Ghost nods, "Besides you having three smaller moons to our big one and, less Light Pollution, the skies look nearly alike."

Merrath shakes his head, "Not nearly, they are identical!" at Ghost widening eyes he continues, "Our worlds occupy the same exact spot somehow and at the right places one can just will oneself threw the divide! That is, if one knows how."

"But ya end up at the same spot on the world, don't ya?" Topaz butted in, "What if ya find yerself in their ocean er in a tree er something o' the like?"

Merrath nods, "That is a problem, but with the help of The Blessed of Hethunaniua -- Ghost what's wrong?"

At the name of the Goddess of the wilds, life and sex, Ghost took a frantic look around, just in case the woman took an interest in who said her name. At Merrath's question Ghost answered, "I was told that my magic was considered Blasphemy by her."

Merrath looked startled, "What are your main magics?"

"I can manipulate bodies, nature, and sexual attributes. Grand Duke... oh no... don't tell me that he told me a lie there too!" Ghost was vibrating in anger when he said a spell.

Wanderleaf asked, "What did that one do?"

Ghost looked over, "Removed the curse so the bastard will be in the day after tomorrow so I can challenge him to a magic duel, so I can turn him into a Grand Duchess."

The other four looked at each other in shock.

"Or am I wrong? Is my magic a Blaspheme against Her?" Ghost asked.

Gerrof shook his head, "You should have told me, I would have told you that your kind of magic is called 'The Blessed of Hethunaniua'."

Ghost nods, "Let's talk about fixing this... I mean the situation your world is in."

---+---+---+---

That night...

Ghost's dream

Ghost looked around at the blank room he was dreaming up and was not surprised that it looked like one of the interrogation rooms he used at the FBI. Especially when he saw Urethane sitting cuffed to the table next to him and he was cuffed there too.

"What is the meaning of this you monster!" Blasted the Rabbiten Grand Duke.

The human Ghost shook his head, "We are in an interrogation room waiting to be questioned by someone, Mr. I Lie To People Who Trust Me. And I'm not in charge here; if I was I'd be getting ready to have [[cony]]."

"What?"

"Cooked rabbit and since you're a Rabbit..." Ghost licked his lips.

"That's enough you two,"

a powerful voice pronounced, as an indescribable, glowing, feminine being appeared,

"I do not know what happened for you two to fight, but I need you two to work together to stop this mess before it destroys

both

worlds."

As Urethane gasped, Ghost asked, "And you are?"

"She the Goddess of Fate, Villain, and-"

"Why are you acting like that, Urethane? He is the one I chose to be my fist, as you are my messenger."

Urethane looked bewildered, "But the visions you sent me..."

Ghost sighed, "I dislike Precognitives who forget that messages can be tampered with or misinterpreted or falsified completely. Surely there is someone who could do that, even to a Goddess's massage?"

"Zl;gre'bonaesn," replied Urethane, shocked.

"The Keeper of Chaos,"

expanded Fate,

"My only rival for control of everything."

Ghost turned to Urethane, "Would it be like ... ah... The keeper of Chaos to turn two allies against one another?" Ghost was not even going to try to pronounce the name because he knew it was beyond him. In cases like this back home he'd even ask scumbag criminals if they had something else they'd like him to call them so he wouldn't keep mangling their name, unless they didn't mind it mangled...

"Oh yes, as long as they weren't friends already, anyhow. For some reason he dislikes messing up love and friendships, even though he will make someone choose between two friends."

"Ah, yes, speaking of friends: Gerrof is insanely furious at you even though you'd never see it. Ninety percent of my fury at your betrayal was actually his. Tara connected our brains you see, she thought it would make us easier to manage..." Ghost shrugs, "Who knows, but he felt the betrayal of me as one of him as I went to you, his old friend, on his say so."

"I do have one question,"

asked Fate as she changed the scene to Ghost's living room in his home in his world, dissolving the manacles, of course,

"If Urethane's mind was touched by Zl;gre'bonaesn, how come it was clear tonight?"

"Because of the spell I cast earlier, is my guess," Ghost responded, "The one that I used to seal my punishment, not the one that ah..."

"I got it," Urethane grinned, "And by the way, I liked the spell. Not the fact that I was the target, mind you, but there was a certain elegance to it that spoke to me. I'd like to use it if you'd trust me with it?"

"I'll consider that," Ghost equivocated, "But the other spell blocks all magic but yours and mine," Ghost grinned, "And it was worded so not even a God or Goddess could crack it."

Urethane gestures at Fate and states, "But she's here."

Before the Goddess could say anything Ghost stated, "Your magic comes from her, does it not? So her power is yours. And now she needs not worry about it getting to you."

Fate nods,

"Just so you know, the day after tomorrow you will need every weapon in all of your arsenals."

Fate fades out leaving the two to get to know each other.

---+---+---+---

The next morning

Topaz opens Gerrof's door and freezes as he looks at a glistening web of ice with two Ice Spiders resting in the middle of it.

The one on the left looked at him and said, "Hi, you must be Topaz. Gerrof can't talk to you right now considering he's in Ice Spider mode right now."

"That don't seem ta stop yerself." Topaz cautiously stated.

"Yes, that is true and easily explained," the arachnid sighed, "Ghost used a catalyst to give us your language, not an enchantment, and so we're stuck being able to talk to you two legged half limbs for the rest of our lives."

An odd crinkling, cracking sound interrupted and as Topaz looked over a naked Gerrof fell from the web and strode over to the neatly folded robe nearby. As he pulled it on he asked, "So have you had breakfast yet?"

"Ah, that were the reason Ah came ter yer room, ta get it started."

"Oh, Yah, you wouldn't know," Gerrof muttered to himself-ish, "Ghost gets up at five Bells no matter what, he can't help himself. He get's Breakfast started then, and then he goes to his Alchemical Shed for a Bell to check on his experiments, Then the barn to help the Help with the Animals, then he practices for a while," Gerrof looks around, "Where's Wanderleaf?"

Topaz states, "He went ta yer garden fer a bit ta wait fer Breakfast."

Gerrof's eyes widen and a whispered "Oh crap," escapes from his mouth before he drops his robe on the floor and half shifts to take off at high speed down the hall.

Although a bit stunned at Gerrof's atypical behaviors, the visible surprise, the, mild, cussing and choosing to go naked while even partially Besten, Topaz kept pace with the blazing speed of an Ice Spider/Wolfen hybrid with the deceptive speed of a Dwarf who was dedicated to Dantathnor, The God of Travel, the Lost, Directions and Undiscovered Truths. Within moments they were at a balcony that overlooked the garden where Gerrof went over as Topaz stopped in shock.

To him it did not register that Gerrof did something else that was not normal for him, Topaz was stunned by the view. Gone was the unkempt and neglected tangle that was Gerrof's father's garden space. Before him was a pattern, as Dwarven Eyes were more likely to pick out first because there is little to no light underground, that he had only seen similar to once before. Fate's Eye and Dantathnor's Directions carved paths through Hethunaniua's Tended Wild Garden. A pattern that was common to those known as the Shield of the Worlds and/or The Fulcrum of the Arguing Friends. As the three Gods were often found arguing and laughing, rarely agreeing on any point but willing to fight side by side on the occasions that called for it and enjoying the presence of one another, despite their constant bickering. For the three to agree that any one mortal was good enough for all three to give power to was, well... world altering, to say the least.

As Dwarves routinely fall farther than the two story drop from that balcony, Topaz jumped off and wandered into the garden, no longer worried for Wanderleaf; Hethunaniua has never allowed one of her servants to harm another and the creations of The Shields of the Worlds did not attack the innocent or those who did not wish harm on others.

Within moments he came face to (?) face with the thing that he thought Gerrof was worried about. It looked like four viney rose bushes had wrapped themselves together into the shape of a four legged feline. It had roses where then eyes should have been and long, thorny vines coming from its mouth aria.

The obviously magically created creature cocked its head, //Dwarf lost?\\

Topaz chuckled, it seemed like Ghost was in the habit of making things talk, "Nay, my good beasty, I'm looking at Ghost's handiwork in this here garden."

The creature cocked its head the other way, //Is 'nay' no?\\

"Aye," he replied and almost laughed as the thing looked around.

//I no see any eyes,\\ it reported.

Topaz couldn't help it and cracked up.

At that moment Ghost, in full griffon mode came out of the bushes and stalked up to the rolling dwarf and nudged him with his beak and squawked.

Topaz shot to his feat and stared at the unnaturally massive Immortal Griffon. Unlike the Ice Spiders, which do not have a set growth limit, a six and a half foot tall griffon was about a foot to tall to be normal. He carefully asked, "Ghost? Is that yerself?"

The oversized griffon nodded, giving a happy chirp purr.

//Dwarf has broken head,\\ the plant creature complained to Ghost, //He said something about eye. I no see eye.\\

Ghost shifted back to human and chuckled, "The dwarven word for yes sounds like the Beasten word for eye, Thoe."

//Oh...\\ the viney beast then turns its head to the dwarf, razes and spreads its mouth vines in a fearsome threat display and hisses.

Topaz busts out in laughter again as Gerrof, Wanderleaf and another vine cat comes onto the scene.

//Dwarf mind broke,\\ Thoe complained to the new one of his kind.

That one cocked its head, //Maybe dwarf thinks Thoe look funny,\\ it teased, earning it a hiss.

Meanwhile, Wanderleaf was trying not to stare at a naked Ghost, "Ghost, do you realize that you're naked?"

Ghost sniffed the air, scenting Wanderleaf's embarrassed arousal he quickly cast a spell to cover himself and Gerrof in robes, "Sorry Wanderleaf, but it's hard on cloths when you shift a lot." He then looks at the group, "I found something this morning, while I was working some more on the last part of the mess left from Gerrof's father that I want you all to look at, and tell me what I should do. It's a shrine of some sort and since I keep having dreams where Gods and Goddesses talk to me, well..."

Topaz nods, "Yer wishing ta know ifen this be a god yerself kin afford ta piss off. Although most won't mind yer calling their faithful ter move the shrines of those who are against er not fer ye."

Ghost nods and jesters for them to follow. On the walk through the wondrous display of flowers, vines and bushes Wanderleaf slides up to Ghost and asks a question that had been burning in him for a bit, "Has someone told you that I'm

'a man that likes to have sex with men'

?"

Ghost nods, "Gerrof mentioned it, he also said that it's hazardous to mention that to strangers that you don't know the religion of. You need not worry about that with me; as long as you know the meaning of the word 'no'. Also I'd prefer to call you [[Gay]] rather than the other; it means the same only it's less offensive."

A few minutes later they entered a tangle of vegetation and came upon a shrine topped by a compos that had eight points which was slowly turning in circles. Topaz snarls and draws his hammer, "Do na worry my friend, I'll put this abomination ta rest!"

"I would rather you hold a moment, Good Dwarf," chuckled a smooth voice from empty air, just before a Tigeren in an Earth power business suit appears.

Although all of his friends tensed up fearing and attack, Ghost relaxed, "You're the Keeper of Chaos, aren't you?"

"Yes, that's

one

of my names, but I'm not the villain that most people think I am," The God sighed, "I prefer the title of, The Keeper of Choices as its far more accurate, but this aspect," and he waves dismissively at the altar, "Is my least favorite and the one that is the most inaccurate to assign to me."

Topaz was incredulous, "So The Keeper of Misleading Paths is not one of your aspects? Who would you assign it to then, Dantathnor?"

Zl;gre'bonaesn sadly shook his head, "No, It's one I sadly took charge of because its true lord is amongst the Dead Gods,"

Ghost had an epiphany, "You are not the one who lead Urethane to think I was a bad guy are you?"

Gerrof's head shot up with a "What?" as Zi;gre'bonaesn nods, "Fate forgets that I never brake up friends, even when I do not think they are good for one another. Like I think she, Dantathnor and Hethunaniua are. Even If I think I can win just if I do so. So

I

would have never turned Urethane against you, because that would break him and Gerrof up. I would have shown him that, oh... I don't know... the emperors were going to turn evil and you were the one who could stop them."

"Not that I was leading an army of chaos to take over this world and turn it into a sick and perverted version of my world?" Ghost stated, looking at Gerrof, "Oh, and the fact that Gerrof here was suppose to be my mind controlled pet?" At Gerrof's shock Ghost explained, "An angry Fate had it out with me and Urethane in one of my dreams last night and let us really get to know each other after she was threw." Ghost then turned back to Zl;gre'bonaesn, "Would you know who is behind this?"

The God sighs, "I hope Fate has not forgotten her first opponent for control of all realities, and that is all I can say for now on this. But Ghost, you have a string of designations to make. The first one is; Do you want the responsibility of being a hero in both worlds? The pay is going to be lousy, you won't get any respect from those that don't know, and it's going to play havoc with you in ways that neither I nor Fate can tell you about."

"Is there anyone else for the job?" Ghost asked.

"Of course, they just won't get as good results, and it would rip their lives apart. You already are out of your comfort zone, and this can help you get back to it or find a new one, your choice."

Ghost smiles wanly, "It's not much of one to me. I'm your man."

Zl;gre'bonaesn sighs, "It's like my Mate told me, even given a choice you choose this."

Gerrof, Wanderleaf and Topaz's eyes all popped and their jaws dropped as they parroted, "Mate?"

Ghost grinned, "Yes, don't you know that reality is a marital dispute between free will and Pre-destiny?"

"Oh, That's rich!" Zl;gre'bonaesn roared with laughter, "Can I tease Fate with that?" seeing Ghost's hesitation he reassures him, "She won't be mad at you for this, and she likes you. Plus you're the grandson of her BFF!" Another blank stare, "Oh come on, you didn't know? Your Grandfather was a temple slave that Hethunaniua enjoyed a lot? She sent her daughter to your world to be free... oh crap... your dad..."

"Is a Perverted Bible Thumper who would have obliterated all knowledge of this world and would have used it to keep my mom in line. But he killed her when she tried to keep him from my younger sister while I ran for the ... constables," ground out Ghost over a freezing tongue.

"He was not always that way, it was a young pagan woman that prompted the Decision that turned him into that. I'm not blaming the girl by the way, she was just the fork point," a sigh, "His boss chose T and A over skill and fired you father while promoting her. Your dad made Wrong choices after that."

Zl;gre'bonaesn, "But that does not bear on any of what we're talking about. Ghost, Do you want to unlock you full potential?" at Ghost's nod The Keeper of Choices says, "Well then you need to visit the temples of Fate, myself, Dantathnor, Hethunaniua, Jo'tuhiner, and Nemesis; although I'd strongly advise you to visit Nemesis last."

"Why?" Ghost demanded.

"All I can say is: she'll use all the time you have left. From each temple you need to get a totem and bring them back here to put them in this garden as it feels right for you. Also I'd advise you to visit the Shrine to The Dead Gods to see the history of the War of The Gods and visit the alcove pertaining to my brother, The Master of Change, Alteration and Transformation," At this Zl;grebonaesn starts to fade.

Gerrof shouts, "Wait! Why is this thing here?"

The Keeper of Choices grins at the mortal and says, "Your father started out on the right side of that faith, although he had fallen to the Frozen One's influence long before you were born," And then he disappears.

Gerrof growls, "That doesn't tell me anything."

"Actually..." Topaz responds, "It does."

Wanderleaf nods, "Like why he was always beating you whenever you showed the slightest emotion."

"Who was the Frozen One again?" Ghost asked.

Topaz snorted, "The Keeper of ... Choices were right, Yer in need of a trip ta the Shrine of the Dead Gods. The Frozen One were the one that the Gods fought against in their war. Another of his names were the God of Stagnation."

"And can Dead Gods rise again?"

Wanderleaf's eyes widen, "Oh Hells..."

"Only if a mortal would become them. And even then that mortal must have the blood of a God, or the soul of one..."

Ghost looks at his friends, "I believe that's what we're facing."

Gerrof looks panicked, "But Ghost, if that's true we need someone of the same caliber to fight him."

Ghost gives Wanderleaf a sad smile, "I know."

---+---+---+---

Elsewhere

A voice rang out in the darkness, "I told you that we had to distract Ghost!"

The same voice, just with a richer way of pronouncing the words, responded, "We tried but one way of doing so, it just didn't work."