The forests of southern Germany could be a lonely place, especially for someone who has spent the batter part of the last five years alone, wandering around the world. If you were to look at this man you would say that he was in his late thirties, possibly his early forties. But in truth he was one thousand years old, having been born at the end of the first millennium. But for the past five years he had been travelling around the world, trying to keep one step ahead of his evil twin brother, and also trying to find out who he was. During these past years he had received ‘visions’ of sorts, sightings of himself as he used to be a thousand years previously when he first became immortal. But in recent days he had been seeing a vision of another sort, and it was this vision that brought him to this German forest, not because it told him to come here, because there was someone here who could help interpret it.
As he walked through the forest, stamping on several small twigs in the process, a smaller, older man tried to keep up with him. But his ageing limbs could not keep up, even though he was in fact nine hundred and fifty-odd years younger than the man he was trying to follow.
“Herr Director!” he called. “Please slow down! I cannot keep up! I am almost out of breath!”
The man referred to as ‘Herr Director’ did not reply, but continued to walk at this brisk pace. Then he suddenly stopped. He smiled when he saw something in the distance. The sight was of a short-haired portly gentleman, garbed in what appeared to be brown robes and with a bushy beard sitting up against a tree with his legs crossed. The man had his eyes closed and appeared to be asleep. This sight greatly pleased him. Finally the shorter man caught up with him. A chance to rest and catch his breath he thought, but it was not to be. A second later he was off again, chasing after ‘Herr Director’. He soon stopped when he was near the portly man. Without saying a word the portly man opened his eyes and sprang to his feet, which seemed a slightly impossible task for someone of this girth.
“Hello Adam.” he said. “It’s good to see you again lad. It’s about this visions, isn’t it?”
“I could never fool you, could I Godbold?” Adam smiled. “Do you know what they’re about?”
“I bloody should do. I’ve had them as well.” Godbold replied.
“All I’ve had is bits and pieces. One minute I see an old man, the next I start thinking about some New Age. I’ve got no idea what it means.”
Godbold took Adam by his arm, and they began to walk away from the tree. On their way they caught up with the older looking man. Godbold smiled.
“You’re out of shape Mathias!” he said, slapping him on the back. “You should take up some sort of sport, perhaps wrestling. I could probably get you on my next bill.”
Mathias paused, again trying to catch his breath.
“Could these visions have something to do with Zachary?” Adam asked. “After all, it’s been over a years since we’ve seen hide nor hare of him.”
“It most likely does.” said Godbold. “But whenever I see these things I get a feeling that something evil is near, an evil greater than that of Zachary and Beatrice put together. For once I’m without an answer. I think it is best to wait lad. I have a feeling that everything will become clear in a few days.”
“You said that five years ago, after I was speared in Austria!”
In Toronto, Canada, a lone figure stood next to a grave in a cemetery. This man had a bunch of red roses in his hand as he stood, silent, in solemn though. The man in question was Duncan McCloud, an immortal, a man over four hundred years old. The grave was that of his love, Tessa Noel, who had been killed six years previously. McCloud stood silent for a number of minutes, with a tear in his eye. His thoughts were of their time together. Then he kneeled down and placed the roses upon Tessa’s grave. He was then motionless, reading the inscription on the headstone. It was another few minutes before he got to his feet. Then, just as he was about to return to the taxi that had been waiting for him what appeared to be some sort of ghost appeared in front of him. But this was not the ghost of Tessa. This ‘ghost’ took the form of an old man wearing a tailcoat, and it wasn’t a ghost at all. It was an astral image, sent from millions of miles away. McCloud seemed annoyed by this image.
“Not now Phineas.” he said to himself. “Not now!”
The astral image was in fact that of Doctor Phineas Magus. The image did not speak, just continued to look at McCloud.
“I haven’t got time for your stupid games.” he said. “I just want to be left alone!”
Then, without saying a word, the image of Magus vanished. When it had finally gone McCloud continued on his way towards the taxi. He opened the door then looked around, as if he was expecting the astral image to reappear. When he was sure that it would not he got into the car.
“This wait is gonna cost you fifteen more bucks.” said the driver.
“It doesn’t matter what it costs.” McCloud replied. “Just take me to the airport.”
“Going anywhere special?”
“Just back to Paris.”
Being a member of Anglo-Force meant many things. It also meant that many duties had to be undertaken. One duty which was disliked by all the members was twilight monitor duty. It meant that all the sensor stations and computers had to be monitored during the early hours of the morning. On this night the duty had been assigned to James Watt. Even though he was the leader of Anglo-Force he couldn’t get out of this duty.
Many things had happened in Watt’s life during the past few months. He not only had responsibilities as Anglo-Force commander but also newfound responsibilities, the sort that go with fatherhood. To his surprise he found that he enjoyed these greatly, but they could be very tiring. As nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be happening during monitor duty he began to doze off. Even though he was immortal he still needed sleep, and sleep was something he had got little off in the past few days.
After a few minutes he began to dream, dream of a long sandy beach and lashing waves. The scene seemed very familiar to him. The scene was very peaceful to him, until it was suddenly disturbed. The dream was about a battle that had taken place recently between Anglo-Force and the mighty Supremus. The beach in question was in Senegal, on the western African coast. Watt had been captured there and had been taken there on Supremus’ ship. Having managed to escape he was soon joined by the other members of Anglo-Force, but not even their combined might could defeat Supremus. They were soundly defeated by the mutate. Then, everything seemed a blur in this dream. He began to see a bright light in the sky, and something attacking Supremus. What it was he did not know. The next thing he knew Supremus was defeated. He then saw a woman in his dreams, and she had long, flowing blonde hair. Her beauty was without comparison. Watt had never seen anything like it before. Could she have been the one who defeated Supremus? He then began to dream of flying through the void of space, the airless void, with a giant asteroid upon his shoulders. He then dreamed of hurtling the asteroid into space, in the hope that Supremus would not bother anyone again.
He then began to see the woman again. Who was she? Had she defeated Supremus? If she had, her power was great. The image then began to get blurred again. The dream began to finish. Then he heard a beeping noise. Could he be dreaming this? Then he realised the sensors had just picked up something. Suddenly he was awake again.
Rubbing his eyes he began to check the computer. It appeared that something had entered the Earth’s atmosphere from space. It was heading towards the French Alps. He began to check the sensor readings. The computers showed it was some sort of space debris falling towards the ground. The conclusion - it was nothing out of the ordinary. Watt then leaned back in the chair and began to stretch. He again rubbed his eyes, and this time he got another feeling - hunger. Putting the system on automatic he got to his feet and made his way to the kitchen.
Little did Watt realise that someone else was looking at the strange occurrence that was falling towards the French Alps, but this woman was doing so without any technological aid. The woman stood high in the mountains, garbed in clothes to protect her from the cold. She watched intently as the glowing object got closer and closer. It seemed to have a purpose, as if it was heading straight towards her. Then, as it got closer and closer to the ground it began to change, to form itself, into the form of a man. It was less than a minute later before it hovered above the woman, then it took full human form, the form of a man. Upon seeing this tall, dark-haired man the woman smiled.
“You see before you, Felicia Martins, a new man. For I, Darkmagus, now hold the power of one of the mightiest forces in all the universe - the power of Q himself!”
“Then it is complete.” said Martins.
“Not yet, my dear. Soon the Acolytes will be contacted. It is then we will know who they are. It is then their lives will be in danger. It is then we must stop this ‘New Age’ of man.”
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