Possibility after possibility of something going wrong went through my head as we waited for Ru-lah to complete the transaction. What did occur was not something I would have ever have come up with on my own! Hearny was just telling Ru-lah that the messages had gone through. She was unsure of how long it would take for the Guardians to recieve or answer the calls we sent.

It was then that a sound of booming thunder split the sky and made the entire tree tremble.

Alarms blared to life. The pirates around us began cowering. Hearny moaned and then mumbled to herself.

“Not here… Why would they come here?”

“Who? Who is coming here,” Ru-lah asked on edge.

“The cartoon gave her a frightened look and then her lips parted in an O. “You’re new Crossovers… Oh my, dearie. I’m so sorry, but y’all better run fer dear life. These Abominations will want y’all specifically.”

Suddenly, a giant, black claw shot with blinding speed from the clouds and grasped the tree. It’s black, serrated fingers could reach around to grasp the entire trunk! The entire tree shook, and buildings started cracking and falling apart. A horrible scream from scared citizens rose on the air. There was a feeling of hopeless that crashed down on us. Not even my edgy persona could deal with it.

“Why do they want us,” I shouted to the pirate lady, but she was already scampering off.

The ships in the yard started roaring to life and the pirates were falling over each other and their supplies to climb aboard their vessels. It was clear that they were trying to get out of dodge, and fast before anything else happened. My eyes, however, quickly snapped back to the massive hand that was gripping the tree. I followed its impossibly long arm back into the clouds.

The once blue clouds were now turning a dark grey and the smell of rain washed over me. But it was tinged with something else. A kind of rotten stench. Ru-lah wrinkled her nose and sneezed. Trickster followed my gaze and then pointed.

“Look,” he shouted.

Out of the darkening clouds oozed and feel strange droplets of black liquid. As they fell they formed into mishmashed shapes and then zoomed right for the tree! Down below, abov us, and even around us, they crashed into the tree and the buildings like speeding bullets.

Security vessels and warships activated and flew away from the tree to engage the things falling from the sky. Lasers fired off and bombs exploded. Soon, a hail of projectiles and counter attack lasers came down in response on the defenders. One of the hideous droplet things landed dangerously close to us and I could now see what it was.

The best way I can describe it was as a shadow. A shadow that had taken 3D, corporeal form. Shadows are not black like cartoons and movies portray them. They are an odd mix of different shades of grey, coming to form blackness at the deepest center. And from this shadow, there were red eyes. And they locked onto mine.

“I’m not sure what that is,” Trickster said to all of us. “And I don’t think we should stick around to find out!”

“So cliche,” Ru-lah muttered.

The thing howled and sped right for us. Ru-lah whipped out her Sword of Heritage and buried it right in the creature. The howl became a scream as it backed away. At first I was confused, but then I remembered I had written about them in their D&D adventures. That blade would become more powerful with everything it slew, and it had helped take down an Eldritch god!

Of course it should be able to bite into creatures of darkness. Or shadow, or whatever!

“Trickster! Get the coins ready to send us out of here,” she snarled.

“On it,” he said, plunging a hand deep into one of his pockets.

The shadow punched a fist into the ground and the floor cracked. The cracks emitted a black energy, and the cracks spread and widened. What was more was that they spread in our direction! Trickster pulled me out of the way before the cracks reached my feet. Ru-lah leaped backwards and took hold of some wiring that was hanging down from the dish. She hauled herself up.

“Got anything that can help us out,” Trickster asked me.

“Does a pocket knife help?”

He gave me a look and said, “We need to work on your Boy Scout skills.”

“But I hate even the Girl Scouts!”

“Heathen,” he laughed at me. Laughed! At a time like that, too!

He then spun with a flourish and two knives soared right into the shadow. Nothing happened at first, but then there was an explosion within the beast. It bulged like a bullfrog. It was distracted long enough for Ru-lah to leap down and bisect the creature with her sword. The two halves of the shadow melted, and they revealed firbolg, cloven in two.

“That is very disconcerting,” I said shakily.

“Looks like whatever is attacking this place right now takes other creatures and people and turns them into those shadows,” Ru-lah said, eyeing down the balcony.

More shadows were scampering our way, but one of the ships finally got in the air and let loose a barrage of fire on them. They were consumed in the explosions.

“Good to know that enough fire power will also kill them,” Trickster remarked. “Because we are a little low on super magical swords.”

“And you have only so many knives,” Ru-lah grunted. “Those coins?”

“Sorry, I was distracted.”

As Trickster went back to rummaging, I looked upwards again. Drops of rain now hitting my face. They were ice cold. And the smell got stronger. It was really bad. The sky was now full of bursts of fire, exploding ships and shadows, and flying, smoldering debris. The tree shook again, and we could feel it start leaning.

A monster began to emerge from the clouds. It was attached to the arm. I could not tell what it was, but it was big! Bigger than a flying city! Bigger than an island! And it was all black. I could not tell exactly what it was, but I saw other arms and claws reaching for the tree.

“I hate to say it, but I think this place is done for,” Ru-lah said wearily.

“I can’t believe this,” I found myself saying. “What exactly is going on here?”

“We really don’t want to figure out,” Trickster answered. “Especially if the answer has anything to do with this foul smell, which I bet it has! Ah, here they are!”

“You need to have them in a better place,” Ru-lah chided. “What if this were an even more dire emergency?”

“Then I would have you to help bail me out?”

“I can’t help but feel that something like this happened before,” I said to myself.

Trickster pressed a coin into my hand, explaining, “This is really going to drain you to use it. But this is our best option at the moment. Besides, I know the place.”

“Wait. What,” I began to say.

“Just hold onto it and concentrate on getting out of here,” Ru-lah snapped.

I did just that, and I felt myself falling backwards. I tried to reach out to something. Anything to hold on to. My vision went dark, and something jerked me from behind. My vision returned and I stumbled to stay upright. I slipped a little on something.

The very first thing I noticed was that it was raining. And it was cold. And then I saw what I had slipped on. Cobblestone. I looked up to Trickster and Ru-lah, who unfairly had come this way without stumbling.

In response to my inquisitive look, Trickster said, “Welcome to my home.”