School Daze (closed)

[The Floor Kippers]

William and Dexal took a step and tumbled down to the bottom of the hill like a landslide.

[Warhaven]

"So, uhh, what now?" Sara asked.

The strange great white dragon flew overhead and disappeared over the horizon.

"Hey! It's that strange dragon! Let's go after him." Sarah Angel urged.

She tried to take off flying, but her wings detached and took off without her.

"HEY!" Sarah Angel shouted at her wings. They came back and attached themselves, and Sarah Angel took off flying as a whole person. Jezebel looked at Sara.

Sara shrugged, and took off running. Clouds gathered at her back, and blossomed into angel wings, giving her flight. Jezebel grinned, and took flight beside Sara.

"Wait up Sarah Angel!" Sara and Jezebel called.

[The Floor Kippers]

William and Dexal followed on.
"Wait up!" They shouted.

[Warhaven]

The four of them would catch up to her soon enough. Fire licked up at them from pools of boiling lava, but it was as cold as ice, and just as harmless.

"Where did he go?" Jezebel wondered.

Sara didn't know, she was just silently wondering why the clouds scuttled along the sky like spiders.

[The Floor Kippers]

"I take it back, this place isn't weird, it's bizarre," Dexal said.

[Warhaven]

The Spiders proved to be more than clouds, they were the sky itself, and they moved aside in a great swarm leaving them in a forest canopy. Above the tree tops could be seen the black depths of space, and a world.

"Wow!" The girls enthused.

[The Floor Kippers]

"Cool" Dexal said.

"I wonder what's on that world?" William asked.

[Warhaven]

As William said that, The Deep magic reacted and reverbrated upon his words, grabbing the five children and slingshoting them towards that world.

As they flew upwards, reality shifted around them until they were flying down a tunnel of rainbow light, the walls getting tighter and tighter, forcing them closer and closer together. Soon they were a single amorpheous blob with their minds forming a quasi solid connection, enabling the sharing of surface thoughts and secondary thoughts.

"Sheesh, could this get any stranger?" One of the girls thought.

The tunnel spat them out on the world they'd seen. It was desolate, empty, a wasteland, save for the trillions of metal statues all facing a central podium. On it was a statue with a gold crown, and a man dressed up like a steriotypical politician.

"So, we are agreed then. Simic shall assist The Ministry of Shadow in exchange for passage out of The Deep Magic. To seal this bargain, I, The Politician, %th Minister of Shadows shall become one with The Simic King in Mind, Body, and Spirit, our foes becoming one." The Politician said.

The Simic King nodded, and stuck out a hand. The Politician took it, and enveloped The Simic King. The Simic King twitched, and took on The Politician's form.

"We are one, and doom has come to our enemies. How can a man fight himself? How can a mother fight her children? How can one friend turn on another so easily? WE MARCH!" The Simic King decreed, and silently, his people began to march.

The children fell through the world and into a large white claw in the darkness.

"There you children are." The Great White Dragon that had been mysteriously helping said. His eyes narrowed, and then he broke into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Sara demanded, managing to get her mouth to the surface of the blob.

"Simply put? You. But then I was as inexperienced once. I just didn't know you'd be so foolhardy as to jump 26 Billion Lightyears like that. I know, I know, the distance didn't seem that far. This is The Deep Magic, it is Perfect Chaos perfectly controlled by Perfect Order. Logic and reason do apply, but not in the fashion your used to. This place has its own rules." The Great White Dragon said, putting the blob of children into a glass bottle they couldn't escape from.

He took flight.

"Was what we just saw real? If so, did it really happen just then?" Jezebel asked.

"Yes, but as for when it actually happened, Time here does not translate well into your time. However it happened about the time The Four Seasons attacked your nations, which that event happened here, in about ten years from now." The Great White Dragon said.

"That's nonesense!" Sarah Angel protested

"No, That's the Deep Magic. I told you it holds to its own rules of Logic and Reason." The Great White Dragon said.

"Who are you?" Sara asked.

"One that was lost to his parents by their own actions. You however may call me by the name my parents would've given me, Draconus." The Great White Dragon said.

Jezebel marveled, his scales, they seemed to be made of Pearl...

[The Floor Kippers]

"The Lost Dragon!?" Dexal exclaimed, "There's a story about you in the Book of Androzani! The child lost to the mists of time, a tale of how valuable good parental co-operation is. I thought that was just a fable."

[Warhaven]

"It is. It is not. I am not that dragon, that is certain." Draconus said.

He landed in a crystal world, boasting a magnificent crystal tower similar to The Master's Tower.

"Welcome to my home." Draconus said, and set to work. He was Drco Superior, but moved and acted as a Drcao Sapien in all ways. First he poured the blob of children into a strange set of tubes that spun them squeezed them expanded them, then released the blob into a strange beaker. Then he got a pair of tweezers, and successfully removed Sara, setting her down on a satin cloth.

"Gryphons, still stuck together. We need the essence of sky." Draconus said, and using a slotted spoon, held them over some rising steam, which carried them up through a fine wire mesh, seperating them.

This left Dexal and Jezebel. They were poured on a small iron mountain that had been heated, causing them to flow downhill.

"How do we get home? We have something important to tell everyone! My father the Emperor, my big brother and big sister, Jezeel, Charlie, Nigel, King Matthew, The Ancient Masters, The Kipperese Masters, Spiridon, Drayan, Bahamut, Tiamet, Androzani, Gallifrey, Gryphox, everybody!" Sara said.

......

And everyone Sara mentioned, found themselves in the grip of The Deep Magic, powerful forces not easily altered once started drawing them all together into a special inter-dimensional room.

It was 3 AM, so understandibly, alot of folks were still asleep. But so was Bahamut, and he snored, loudly. Infact he snored loud enough to rattle the entire room. The Ancient Masters bolted awake, as did Cara and Pondera. Jezeel was slowly waking up, mostly believing herself to be in a dream. They all slept on normal reasonable beds.

Not Bahamut and Tiamet. They slept on their treasure horde, furthering old steriotypes about dragons. How Tiamet could sleep next to Bahamut was a mystery, until Cara noticed she had a sphere of silence around each of her heads. Bahamut and Tiamet both smoked in their sleep, the Dragon Pearl tucked between them.

"What's going on?" Cara asked.
It was then she noticed the five children. They were asleep, long rainbow colored ribbons of energy wrapped around them. They simply would not wake up.

But, they were with Draconus, weren't they? It was a mystery.

[The Floor Kippers]

On the Kipperse side onky Gryphox and Nigel were awake, and they had been reminiscing about old times. However the others didn't stay asleep long with Bahamut snoring.

Androzani had been sleeping wrapped protectively around Gallifrey, who looked like she was about to pop.

"No Idea Cara" Nigel said, "Though it's bound to be something Powerful, Evil and rumbled by these five children."

[Warhaven]

"I'll get them." Pondera said, motioning to Bahamut and Tiamet.

"NO! Don't use magic!" Xos cried frantically as he got out of bed. Thankfully he was wearing pajamas.

Pondera thought this odd, and so he reached out and touched a gold coin on their hoard. This was immediatly greeted by 8 low throaty menacing growls. One from Bahamut, 7 from Tiamet. Their eyes snapped open, and Pondera let go as Tiamet cleared her silence bubbles.

"Ahh, good, you're awake. I was afraid I might have to do something drastic." Pondera said.

"What's going on?" Bahamut questioned.

"Look you old lizard!" Xos snapped.

With a growl of irritation he looked, and was about to speak when he stopped in silence, a silence shared by Tiamet. The Ancients were all in stunned disbelief. Except Irene, who was as confused as everyone else.

"So, uhh, what's going on, for the rest of us?" She asked.

"The Deep Magic, it has been unsealed. But why these five? Their not prepared, their not even under prepared. Their as far from prepared for The Deep Magic as King Matthew is for breathing underwater in his current condition." Xos said.

"And what's The Deep Magic?" Irene asked.

"Perfect Chaos directed by Perfect Order. It is beyond Infinite Improbability. It is a place where reality takes the best hallucinagenic drugs availible and never comes down off the resulting high. We, the Ancients, sealed it away 2 Million years ago for safety, for with The Deep Magic, anyone, without exception, can do godlike things. We left The Shallow Magic we're all used to. It can be controlled, legislated, studied, organized, made a useful tool. But not The Deep Magic, it is its own beast, and not even the gods can control it." Xos explained.

"Sounds dangerous." Cara said.

Hence why we sealed it off. Androzani and Gallifrey were busy being dead at the time, and even while they were alive before hand, their studies and concerns of magic weren't in enough Detail to get to The Deep Magic. Even Gryphox, wouldn't have had enough time to fully learn of The Deep Magic. He might've heard of it, but that'd be as far as he got." Bahamut said.

Tiamet snarled in surprise as the Dragon Pearl started shaking. The Embryo seen within started moving, writing, growing. Then with an audible pop, The Dragon Pearl popped, as if it were a soap bubble, releasing a pearly mist that grew, expanded, then became solid, in the form of Draconus, The Great White Dragon.

"YOU!" Bahamut growled threateningly, noticing he had the souls of the children.

"Yes, me. Allow me to introduce myself." Draconus said, then put the children back in their bodies.

"I am Draconus, The Dragon God of Magic. I am also your son." Draconus said, pointing to Bahamut and Tiamet.

The ancient dragons both fainted in shock, much to Pondera's chagrin, as Bahamut fell on Pondera as he fainted.

The girls looked surprised at this revelation. So did The Ancient Masters, Pondera, Cara, Tajen, and Jezeel. Draconus meanwhile took to fanning his parents with his wings trying to bring them around.

[The Floor Kippers]

"Of course, it should have been plainly obvious to us" Andrizani said, "I feel such a fool."

"You know, I've always wondered why there has never been a Pearl Dragon" Spiridon said, "It's an Honor to meet you Draconus."

[Warhaven]

Draconus nodded, as the ancient pair came around.

"I was concious, even before I was hatched. My spirit would go wandering The Deep Magic, being drawn to it as innately as a moth to the flame. Then you and the other ancients sealed The Deep Magic, when I was wandering its landscape. I couldn't return. I was trapped. This caused my body to change into a pearl. When I was hatched, I tried so hard to return, to be with my parents, but I couldn't. I watched as you two picked up your old fighting, and was very sorry I didn't stay home where I belonged. For the past 2 million years I have lived in The Deep Magic, it gave me a new body, soaked into my bones, permeated my spirit. I have studied it in more detail than any before me.

I do not blame you, you could not of known." Draconus said.

"You should join us in The Temple." Bahamut said, on the verge of breaking into tears.

"I was the first to do so. When you and mother built the temple, I foresaw what it would become, and so ran my energies through its walls via the pearl that had been left behind, to show you and mother the way. I am well pleased you noticed my hint, for you in turn did the same, as have all others after you. But we can have a reunion later. There is business to discuss. the children have discovered something, I told you they would. The Five agents shall walk my lands in search of truth. That's what I said, and that's what happened.

But first, of far graver importance, The Seal on The Deep Magic shall crumble away inside of one week, unleashing such a catastrophic tsunami of magic as to destroy civilization throughout The Multi-verse." Draconus said.

"I thought the seal was everlasting!" Xos said.

"It is like using an Iceberg to stop the ocean. You can never succeed forever, because all magic stems from The Deep Magic. The magic your used to IS The Deep Magic, just not so deep. It is like comparing a deep lake to The Ocean really. You need a better controlling measure." Draconus said.

"I don't know what the point is in another temporary measure." Xos said.

"I didn't say temporary, I said better. Instead of the iceberg to stop the ocean, consider instead a Dam, one designed to control the flow, and use it. That metaphor is what I have in mind. When I knew this day would come, I started searching for a better solution. Civilizations depend on life the way it is now. It would be difficult to simply calm the influx of Deep Magic, and expect nations to simply be able to suddenly embrace and adapt to its existence. At the same time, The Deep Magic cannot be sealed away either.

"Why not?" Bahamut asked.

"Because from it comes all magic users, and The Gods. Destroy all godhood, and all magic users, and it can be fully sealed." Draconus said.

"I think not, I like existing." Tiamet said.

"Exactly. To that end, what I have in mind, is a magic gate. One that will stem the greater flow of Deep Magic, but still allow it to be accessed, while controling the flow from The Deep Magic. But this will result in the need for new Legislation from Mortal Governments." Draconus said.

"Concerning what?" Tajen asked.

"Who can enter and explore The Deep Magic primarily. You wouldn't send an unprepared man in to face Daleks would you? Why would you do the same with Deep Magic?" Draconus asked.

"Ahh, the sort of thing I can leave up to The Department of Magic and The Adventurer's Guild. The sort of thing Jenny and Nigel over there will have to get with Sir Baron with at the appropriate time. They should probably include Bill too. I mean it is a seperate part of The Multi-verse after all." Tajen said.

[The Floor Kippers]

"When we return home, I will have an emergency meeting booked with Jenny, Bill and Baron," Nigel said.

"I think we gods can help," Gryphox said, "Something along the likes of the Heraldic Gate would be of use here."

[Warhaven]

"For this to work, there must be a series of three gates. A massive dimensional one I will need help constructing, which is little more than the manipulation and control of assorted energies. One does not control The Deep Magic, but one can influence its flow. The other two gates are already halfway built. I gave Xos a dream a long time ago when he and his ancients decided to redesign their towers." Draconus said.

"The Arcanus Chamber!" Xos said.

"Yes. It serves as a focus point for magical studies, and with a few additions I've outlined on this scroll, completes your gates." Draconus said.

He cracked his neck, and two small scrolls appeared, one in Xos's hands, one in Jenny's hands. The needed steps were easy enough individually, but together would entail a few days of hard work for everyone.

"Good thing we mirrored our tower for their graduation." Xos said.

"This takes priority before anything else for you, even before meetings with ministers. If The deep Magic comes crashing in..." Draconus warned.

"I think we all understand. If we don't get this done, everything becomes irrelevant." Lara said.

"I think we'll start off with just the Masters exploring. Then branch out to capable people we trust, and evolve from there." Xos suggusted.

"I know much already, but I know for the sake of Gods, so that they can do their duties. You must learn for governments and mortals." Draconus said.

"Now, if that's settled, can we tattle on The Politician and what we learned he's up to?" Sara asked.

"I don't see why not. The Deep Magic Barriers crashing this soon are his fault anyways. He's the one that made a bad gate and subsequently bored straight through. I think he should be tattled on." Draconus agreed.

[The Floor Kippers]

"Come little ones, Tattle on this "Politician"" Gryphox said, "Is he going to be as much trouble as the Peacemaker?"

"He did what!?" Nigel exclaimed to Draconus' description of how the Politician gained entry to Deep Magic, "The Bloody fool, true bad politician, clearly only thinking about short term gain over long term effects."

[Warhaven]

"Well, he found these strange metal men, like Cybermen, but different. They were all perfectly identical to each other, save for one who was clearly their king. He identified himself as The Simic King, and they agreed to work with The Ministry in order to escape The Deep Magic. Then The Politician and the Simic King became one single entity, meaning The Ministry now controls an entire nation." Sara said.

"Oh, good. The Simic. And here I was afraid it'd be something easy to deal with." Draconus said.

"What's so bad about Simic?" Xos asked.

"You know Dopplegangers? Novices compared to a Simic. The Changlings of The Twelth Dimension? Powerful, Scary, but still not as good as a Simic. They don't even need to touch you, just get close enough to use their powers. Then they become you in every fashion. The world of Simic was once full of many species, and there were only two Simic in existence. Then one Simic began to divide. Much like a cell in a person's body. The other never did. As the expanding Simics marched out, they took over nations with such frightening effeciency that no one could fight them. And they all answered to the one Simic that did not divide.

the worst part is, they even take your powers. Anti-Magic has no effect whatsoever on them. A Simic by itself is bad enough. But consider if they took over The Imperial Family of Warhaven." Draconus said.

"That'd be bad, very bad." Tajen said.

"One Simic, one person. Except Simic King. He has no known limits. The Politician's been destroyed by The Simic King. But he's still here, because The Simic King IS The Politician now. If they agreed to work together. Wll, I've watched all previous Ministers. I simply couldn't do anything due to the Barriers. The Politician, as of this particular moment, is more powerful than all previous ministers combined." Draconus said.

[The Floor Kippers]

"What if, Hmm, Could we overload the Simics by pitting them against as many Shapeshifters as we can get our hands on?" Charlie asked.

[Warhaven]

"I'm afraid not. Some former residents of the Simic world were Shapeshifters. This only resulted in Shapeshifting Simics that were in no fashion overloaded. There is a bright side though. They can't kill you. They need you to be alive to maintain the simulacrum, and your powers. You die, they revert to normal. They also have never left The Deep Magic before." Draconus said.

"It seems hopeless." Tiamet said.

"Perhaps, but perhaps not." Xos said.

"What are you thinking?" Tajen asked.

"A test. It is certainly true that we must adapt to The Deep Magic when we enter. Yet it is equally true that anything leaving must adapt to the rules of life we're used to as well. To that end, it is extrordinarily difficult, if not impossible, to completely mimic someone, anyone. To that end, we must test each other's Mind, Body, and Spirit, especially if we think one of us has been taken by a Simic. The key must certainly lie therein." Xos said.

[The Floor Kippers]

"Surely, having lived here all their lives, they would be steeped in the energies of Deep Magic?" Drayan asked.

"That could be the key," Jenny said, "Anything from this universe could well give off some very peculiar results when scanned."

"Miller Particles!" Charlie exlaimed, "I bet this universe has unusual Miller Particles making up the walls of it's reality, that would be a dead give away."

"That does rather fall down in the fact that the five children and Draconus have all passed into and out of Deep Magic," Nigel pointed out.

"Yes, but it could hold true for the rest of us" Charlie replied.

"Faith, belief and understanding!" Gryphox suggested.

"Exactly, Maybe they will find some things that we find perfectly normal odd and confusing?" Gallifrey Suggested.

[Warhaven]

"You are in The Deep Magic now. I simply hold it at bay making it seem like your universe." Draconus said.

Xos's eyes narrowed, and he cast a few scans.

"Children, perfectly normal, save for increased levels of magic. Temporary boost, will fade with the passage of but a few days. The rest of us, normal. No changes. Draconus, odd, unusual, readings keep changing. Only the core essence remains the same. Unknown if this is unique to Draconus as a magic deity that has lived in The Deep Magic for so long, or if it's simply a product of The Deep Magic." Xos said, concentrating more on what he was doing than what he was saying.

Draconus waved a wing, and a window opened. Through it came a harmless butterfly.

"Butterfly like Draconus, readings keep changing, core essence remains the same. First Key discovered, time required to determine how long this shifting condition lasts." Xos said.

Xos appeared to be looking, and looking.

"Miller Particles not found. Nothing holds The Deep Magic back, or keeps others from The Deep Magic. Traces of The Ancient Seal remain, fading, falling." Xos said.

[The Floor Kippers]

"Well, that's one thing at least," King Mattthew said.

"That just leaves Spirit and Mind," Thomas said.

"I wonder, what do the souls of Simic's look like?" Simon pondered, "I'm hoping they look a little different, even when mimicking someone."

[Warhaven]

"They have no Soul." Draconus said definitivly.

"Ahh, the second Key. For groping around in the dark in an unknown area, we've done nicely to figure out at least two solid avenues of investigation." Xos said.

"What about their mind?" Tajen asked.

"It is their own." Draconus said.

"Then that is the final clue. My mind is my own, Cara's mind is her own. A lookalike, no matter how skilled, is simply not Cara and I. The Aquamarinians will shine here. So wil The Crystal Marquis over there between Jenny's Bed and King Matthew's." Tajen said.

"This then needs to become standard. A Complete Physical, a test of the energies, and a complete mind sweep." Xos said.

[The Floor Kippers]

"Well, that should be easy enough to arrange," Jenny said.

"Given a little time, we could put it into a mechanical scanner for the transport hubs," Nigel said.