Time, Monsters, and Steam

Fifteen beings awoke to the sounds of nature all around them. Spruce trees surrounded them, and beyond them lie uneven stone walls, like that of a cave, and yet, sunlight poured in from above, as if they were still within it’s reach. It was like an alcove and grove mixed into one, although it was certainly quite large for an alcove, and at the same time, small for a grove.

Birds chirped and flittered to and fro, insects chittered and chattered, and all seemed peaceful. Up until the four beings were awake, that is. The first two woke with a start, the man looking around in shock, whilst the woman did much the same. The man was wearing a gray coat with a picture of Great Gray Wolf Sif on it’s back, along with a light tan shirt that said, ‘She says I don’t listen or something like that.’ He wore dark blue denim jeans and black and blue hiking boots. He was quite pale, and he had mid-length chestnut brown hair and a pair of black Puma brand glasses.

The woman wore a black shirt with white pictures of crossed arrows, words above and below them sayin, ‘Anor Londo Archery Club’. She wore black denim jeans and purple tennis shoes. Her hair was raven black, and reach down to her derriere. She had crimson eyes and snow white skin.

Their eyes locked on one another.

“Bouncy?” the man asked, seeming a little surprised.

“Nono!” cried the woman, tackling him in a hug.

“Good to see you too. But what are you doing here, Mezzy? I thought you were off doing something,” ‘Nono’ said. As he said that, one of the other men groaned as he sat up, holding his head.

“Ugh… what hit me?” he groaned as he rubbed said head. He looked around until he saw the two talking. Well, more like the woman rambling off on him.

“I’msorryfornotcomingtoseeyoubeforeit’sreallyhardtodothatatthetimeanditwashardtofindtheplaceImissedsomuchofyourlifelikethehalloweenandChristmasesandEasterpleasedon’tbemadatme-” she got stopped when ‘Nono’ covered her mouth. The other man noticed that she had a demonic tail and small wings as well. ‘Nono’ smiled and gave her a kiss on the lips.

“It’s fine, babe. It was only one year,” he said. He looked around. “As a side note, the kids are with us, so that’s good.” He then noticed the other two men. “Holy shit… Eric? Will?”

“I’ll tell you after this headache,” One of the men replied, holding his head and groaning a little. The other man shook his and looked at the other two. He had black hair and almost ghost-white pale skin, hazel orbs for eyes. He was wearing some black cargo pants, nike shoes, a hoodie that was mainly yellow and had patterns of black spiders and webbing, with scattered bits of white and pink. Under the jacket was a grey shirt.

“Oh… hey Noah, nice to see you- Oh my gods you’re real!” Will said, pointing at the demon woman, who took offence to that.

“Of course I’m real, you thought I wasn't?” she asked, frowning.

“Do I have to answer that?” Will asked. Will stood up to his full six foot four size as he wore a grey shirt with the image of bears on it and some black pants. He had tanned white skin with cuts and burns all over his hands, presumably from stoves or chemicals. He had short brown hair with a reddish brown trimmed beard. He also had a pair of greenish gray glasses over his gray-blue eyes. He looked over and helped the other man, likely Eric, up.

“Yeah, thanks,” Eric said as he stood, stretching a bit. The two looked over at the other two and then around them.

“Well… this is something,” Will said as he sees all the children. Noah chuckled, wrapping an arm around Mezzy.

“Yeah. You guys do remember the time you came to our house, right? About three years ago?” Noah queried. At their nods, he gestured to the kids around them. “These beautiful little ones are the kids who were in my wife’s belly.”

“Dang…” was all Will could say.

“How’d they fit?” Eric questioned. Will looked at him as the two stared at Mezzy, tilting their heads.

“Don’t ask, even I don’t know,” Mezzy said with a shrug.

“I figured it was just magic or something,” Noah added. Then, all the kids started to stir.

“Mmmh… Daddy?” came the small voice of a girl with pink hair. She looked like she was no older than three, and had pink, sparkling hair and sky blue eyes.

“Ditty!” Mezzy cried, rushing over and squeezing her child to her chest. “Oh, I missed you, lovebug!” Ditrus flailed a little, before managing to free her head from her mother’s suffocating breasts.

“Mommy? I thought Daddy said you’d be gone for a while… It’s been a whole year,” Dittty said. More of the children started to stir and wake up, and they all saw their mother and rushed over, tackling her in a hug. Mezzy laughed as she hugged all her children, smiling broadly.

“Where were you, Ma? We thought you were gone forever!” a tanned girl with auburn hair and emerald green eyes asked.

“Sorry, Grel, Mommy was out doing important work,” Mezzy said apologetically.

“Father said much the same, but we never expected it to take a whole year,” a young boy with silver hair, gold eyes with glasses and pale skin said.

“I know, Tacitus, I know. Mommy’s sorry,” Mez replied.

“I couldn’t even reach you in your dreams!” cried another boy with short light blue hair and sea green eyes.

“Well, I’m here now, Odra, my little dreamer,” Mezzy said warmly, ruffling his hair.

“Were you on a journey? Can you tell us how it went?” a boy with black hair and blue eyes asked, a farmer’s tan on his arms.

“Of course, Feiray,” Mez said as she nuzzled him lightly.

“I’m just glad you’re back, Ma,” said a boy with curly red hair and blue eyes, hugging his mother tightly. “Now I can show you all my new inventions!” he cheered with a grin. Mez laughed.

“I can wait to see them, Boriole,” she told him with a smile.

“I really missed, you Mama,” a girl with windswept white with blue streaks said, tears falling down her face from her sky blue eyes. She had tanned skin. Mez smiled lovingly at her, kissing her forehead.

“I missed you too, Vitre,” she softly.

“Did you get in any fights? Can you tell me what they were like?” another boy asked excitedly, his pure red hair and eyes making him stand out even among the other children. Mez laughed, ruffling his hair.

“Sure, Kraek,” she said warmly.

“Mommy! Mommy mommy mommy!” cried a girl with deep brown hair that covered one of her chocolate brown eyes as she buried her face into her mother. She was crying hard. Mez smiled sadly at her and hugged her to herself.

“It’s okay, Miel. It’s okay. Mommy’s here now,” Mez soothed.

“So where did you go, Mommy?” a girl with tanned skin queried, blue hair tied into pigtails with light green streaks.

“I’ll tell you later, okay?” Mez promised. The young girl nodded, knowing to leave it at that.

“Did you get any old coins or cool statuettes?” a boy with golden hair and emerald eyes asked, looking up at his mother expectantly.

“No, sorry Zounic. Maybe next time we can go looking for some together,” Mez told him. He grinned.

“Awesome!” he cheered. Noah walked over to the group and hugged them as well, wrapping his arms around them all.

“I’m glad that we’re a family again,” he said, looking into Mez’s eyes lovingly. Mez nodded with a smile.

“Me too, hon. Me too,” she replied back with equal love.

Eric looked at all this and tilted his head. “Not to break up the moment, but… we’re in the middle of the woods. We should probably get some sort of shelter,” Eric said. Noah looked around.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” he agreed, releasing his family.

“Agreed. I don’t want to be out in the wilderness at night,” Mez concurred.

“Well, what about that house over there?” Feiray said, pointing to a small, homey cabin built into the side of the alcove/grove mix they were in.

“How convenient,” Will said as he looked at said cabin.

“Well, let’s check it out, then,” Noah said, helping Mez up. He looked to Eric and Will. “Come out, we’re wasting light.” He told them, walking toward the cabin with his family. Will and Eric followed behind the family.

“Where are we, by the way?” Eric asked with his hands in his hoodie's pockets.

“I have no idea,” Will answered with a shrug. Eric shrugged back as the group arrived at the house, going inside of it. The place looked like it hadn’t been used for years. There was a hearth and couch that had an inch of dust on it and some bookcases that had gotten the same treatment. Will coughed as he entered the place. “Well, this is lovely, if you’re a dust bunny.”

“I got it!” Vitre cried, clapping her hands and causing all the dust to blow away, and therefore making everyone cough up a storm. “Oh… oops, sorry!” she said with a light blush.

“Good idea… bad execution…” Will coughed. Sure it cleared all the dust off the bookshelves and couch, but now there was dust floating about all over the room. Will noted that, oddly enough, there was a large TV sitting in the corner. Noah walked over to a window and opened it, letting all the dust filter out, even if only slowly. He looked around, and saw some stairs leading upwards, and a spruce door with an old styled knob of straight up iron on the opposite end of the front door.

“Why don’t we split up and look around? We might be able to find some useful stuff,” Noah suggested.

“Sounds good to me. I’ll come with you to find some rooms,” Mez said.

“Alright. Kids, why don’t you go with your Uncles, get to know them?” Noah told his kids.

“Kay!” they responded happily. Will looked around and decided to head upstairs.

“Well, who’s coming with me?” he asked everyone.

“I’ll go!” said Grel, raising a hand.

“Ooh, ooh! Me too! Me too!” Ditty said eagerly.

“I’ll come too,” Boriole said.

“Alright,” Will said as the three kids followed him upstairs… only to stop as Will banged his head on a low part of the ceiling. “Gods dang it!”

“You okay, Uncle Willy?” Ditty asked, coming up behind him. He didn’t answer at first as he rubbed his head.

“Yeah… not the first time I did that,” he muttered as he climbed the stairs.

“Welp, guess everyone else is with me,” Eric said, going to the door across from the front door and opening it. “C’mon,” He called back as he went through the door. Noah, Mez, and the rest of their children did so, following Eric down a well lit tunnel lined with cobblestone braces while spruce logs were used as support beams, torch sconces on them, which was strange, since there were lamps and lights above them to light their way.

“Why are there torch sconces if there’s lamps already?” Feiray wondered.

“Likely for whenever there is a blackout. The sconces and torches within them can be used to light up the tunnels should the electricity fail,” Tacitus surmised.

“Huh. Cool,” Feiray replied.

“Maybe we can have a blackout party and just play games all night. How does that sound, kids?” Noah suggested.

“Oooh, I like it! Can we play Super Smash Bros?” Nyze asked.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Mez agreed as they walked.

“If we turned the power off, how would we play a console game?” Eric called back, looking around as they walked.

“Oh… Right,” Nyze said, rubbing the back of her neck with an embarrassed blush.

“I meant board games, silly gooses, not video games. We don’t even know if this place has those, along with what Eric said,” Noah said with a chuckle.

“I-I knew that!” Mez said with a light blush. Noah laughed a bit, pecking her on the cheek.

“Sure babe, sure,” he said with a smile.

“I think I saw some kinda weird monopoly back there somewhere,” Eric commented back to the others.

“Really?” Noah said, interested.

“Ugh, please no. I hate Monopoly,” Mez groaned.

“But I’ve never tried it!” Noah argued.

“Eh, I’m not sure monopoly’s even meant for this many people anyway, best we keep it to like four plus a banker or something just in case… I don’t want to be playing it for the next century, thanks,” Eric said as the way they went started slanting down a little.

“Fine. Killjoys,” Noah muttered as they came out to a large room, also lined with cobblestone braces and spruce log support beams. On the left was a set of stairs with a plaque next to it saying, ‘Forge, Armory, Generator Room and Mine’. On the right was a door which they all assumed led to another tunnel, which also had a plaque reading, ‘Second Wing’. Across the room from them was yet another door with yet another plaque that said, ‘Gardens and Farm’.

“Whoa… they have an armory here?!” Kraek said, stars in his eyes.

“As well as a mine,” Tacitus noted. He looked to his parents. “Can I see it? Please?”

“Maybe after we make sure it’s safe and not falling apart,” Noah told him. Tacitus frowned, but nodded.

“I want to see the garden!” Nyze cried.

“Me too, me too!” Vitre cheered, bouncing up and down.

“I wouldn’t mind looking at the Second Wing. It sounds interesting,” Zounic said.

“I’d like to see the garden, too…” Miel said timidly, shifting on her feet.

“I wonder what kind of memories are left here…” Odra wondered.

“Dunno. But it’s a pretty cool and rustic place, yeah?” Feiray said, hands in his jean pockets. “Shall we go to the Second Wing?” Odra nodded.

“There’s a lot more memories and old dreams there,” he said.

“I’ll go with the Second Wing group,” Eric said, already heading that way.

“Alright. We’ll head to the garden, and then the mine and armory,” Noah announced.

“Sounds good to me, hun,” Mez agreed. With that, they all parted ways, Eric, Odra and Feiray going to the second wing, whilst Noah, Mez, and the rest of the children went to the gardens.

Back with Will, Ditty, Boriole, and Grel, they headed upstairs to find a number of rooms and a small library.

“So Uncle Willy, how big are you?” Ditty asked out of nowhere. Grel slapped her sister upside the head. “Ow! What was that for!?”

“You’re being inappropriate again, sis,” Grel told her.

“Oh come on! It’s a legitimate question!” Ditrus argued. Will sighed at this.

“Ditty, I know that you are curious but, you’re three,” he said.

“So? Age is just a number! If I want to be like Mommy, I have to learn this stuff early on!” Ditrus retorted.

“No. You really, really don’t,” Boriole told her as they explored the library.

“Wait until you’re older, besides what will your grandparents think if you ask the same question?” Will said. He didn’t get an answer from her. He turned and saw her go pale.

“Exactly,” Boriole said. Will raised an eyebrow before looking through the library. As they all were looking around, Will simply started pulling out books and skimming through them.

“Hey, so, Uncle Will, what did you do for a living?” Boriole asked.

“Well, for a few years I was a cook in some places before I went to school for Welding,” he answered.

“Welding? That sounds cool. How was it?” Boriole asked, getting interested now. Will shrugged.

“It was alright, allowed me to travel a bit, took some other classes before I found a good paying job as a welder,” he said as he put a book back and pulled another.

“So you struggled a bit, then?” Grel surmised.

“Not really, did some odd jobs,” he answered before tilting his head. “Well, you can say I did somewhat.”

“I can understand that,” Grel said with a nod. She looked around, hands behind her head. “What are we looking for, by the way? Something to light up the fireplace downstairs?”

“Not really, just seeing what the last person that was here was-” Will stopped as he saw a certain book. “Hello~ what do we have here?”

“What is it?” Ditty queried, trying to see what he was looking at, but unable to see it well since she was much shorter than him. Will pulled out a old brown book that had seen better days. On the spine was words that were hard to read but the only word that was readable was Myths.

“It’s a book on Myths, maybe if I-” Will then brushed the dust away to read the title. “Oh… well that solves one question.”

The other two came over to read the title as well as Ditrus. The book was labeled ‘Equestrian Myths’.

“Wait, Equestria? Like the show that Daddy showed us?” Ditrus wondered.

“I think so. I never liked it that much, though. Too girly,” Grel commented.

“Says the girl who secretly sang the theme song whenever she was in the tub alone or when she thought no one could hear her,” Boriole said with a grin.

“Sh-Shut up! I do not!” Grel said, punching her brother in the arm. He simply laughed, the pain not bothering him. Will chuckled as he opened the book.

“Now, let’s see what we are in store…” he said as he read the book, which was luckily in the same language that he knew. As the other three read with him he turned a page that made all of their heads tilt. “Well, seems they take pointers to the Romans and Greeks.”

“Romans? Greeks? Who are they?” Grel asked, curious.

“Well, back home for me they are people that lived hundreds of years before me,” he explained as he tried to scrap anything about them. “All I remember was that the Romans built an empire that lasted a really long time and the Greeks… Spartans.”

“What was their armor like?” Boriole asked.

“Here we go…” Grel said with a roll of her eyes.

“Old,” Will answered as he turned the page to see a statue. He blushed a bit before turning the page quickly.

“You don’t know anything else? Like if they used full-plate or not?” Boriole pressed. His curiosity was very apparent.

“This is something you should ask your dad,” Will explained as he turned the pages until he remembered something about the page with the statue. “Wait, that was an Anthro statue… so, this world has Anthro ponies?” he was answered as there was a picture of another stature only it was the full female body and didn’t have much on. Will quickly closed the book. “Yep! It is!”

“Oooh, was it a kinky picture?” Ditty cooed.

“Sis,” Grel warned. Ditty sighed.

“Fine, fine, I’ll stop,” she said, grumbling to herself. Will shook his head before standing up, still holding the book.

“The others are still somewhere in the house, this will help explain where we are, though when is another question,” Will leaned a bit to looked down down the hallway at the other rooms. “We should go find them… but there’s other rooms…”

“Well, we need to find out what rooms will go to who, so let’s look at them,” Boriole said. Will nodded at him, keeping the book under his arm.

“Well, what’s behind door number one?” he asked out loud.

With Eric, he and his group were wandering through the second wing. They walked down a long tunnel, not unlike the one from before, until they came upon a large, spacious room made with concrete floors and, like all the other rooms, braced with cobblestone and supported with spruce beams. There were three doorways, one on the right, one on the left, and one across the room.

The one on the right had a plaque that said, ‘Lab and Vaults’, the one on the left had a plaque that said, ‘Storage Room, Kitchens, and Private Bar’, and the last one across from where they stood said Entrance to Tower’.

“They really went all out here,” Zounic said with an appreciative whistle.

“How is a bar private? Isn’t it just some kind of stick?” Odra asked, confused. Feiray shrugged.

“Well, I wanna check out the Lab and Vaults. I got a good feeling about’em,” Eric said as he turned to the right door.

“Well, Mom and Dad don’t like us wandering on our own, so we’ll go with you,” Zounic said following his uncle.

“Yeah, got in trouble too many times for wandering into places I’m not supposed to,” Feiray concurred.

“You’d still do it, though,” Odra said with a grin.

“Dang right I would,” Feiray answered with a matching grin.

“Well, we can do that later,” Zounic told them as they all followed Eric. Eric chuckled a little at their commentary as he walked, keeping an ear out just in case one of them decided to go wander off anyway.

After a good long while, they arrived in a very, very large room with multiple stereotypical vault doors lining the walls, and a final one on the floor, in the shape of a gear. Eric surmised that it likely doubled as a lift, since it was on the floor. Each vault had different colored hearts on them, with riddles of sorts below them. Three of them had only one phrase though, along with a number. The one in the floor had a golden plaque, unlike the ones around the room that had silver and gold plaques, denoting them as being even more special.

Then there was a doorway leading to a large lab with all kinds of equipment and notes and such scattered everywhere, but in the back of the room, even from where he stood, Eric could see six tubes filled with liquid that held six, floating, upside down glowing hearts that were pure white.

“Woah… What is this place?” Zounic wondered.

“I don’t know, but there are twelve things behind each of these vaults, just… sleeping, dreaming away,” Odra informed.

Eric looked into the doorway with the six upside down hearts. “Couldn’t be…” He mumbled, going inside of the room. Once he approached the tubes, one of them seemed to glow a little brighter as the SOUL inside it did. That SOUL phased through the tube like a ghost, sinking into his chest.

The male gasped, clutching his chest. Looking down at himself, he was slowly disappearing, becoming mone opaque with every second until he vanished.

“Uncle Eric!” the three boys cried, rushing over to where their uncle once was. When they realised he was gone, they rushed out of the room. “Dad! Mom! Uncle Will!” They all yelled, running down the tunnels and halls to find their family.

Eric awoke in a deep, black void. No sound could be heard. No smell, no feeling. Nothing. Just a deep, black emptiness. “H-hello?” He called nervously, looking around.

“Hello,” a voice echoed throughout the void, sounding as if it were a mixture of voices. Eric turned to see a figure that was a shifting see of color, a white aura around them ,outlining them in the deep black. It had no real features, just the shape of a woman. There were no clothes on her, but there were no sexual organs or nipples on her to really be embarrassed about.

Eric blinked a little. “I’m reminded of an anime right now…” He commented after a couple seconds. The woman tittered, somehow.

“I am more than some show, child,” the woman told him, walking up to him. He noted her hips were quite large, along with her breasts, but, again, there were no real features.

“I know that, but this is just kinda like in this anime. This kid tries to bring his mother back with alchemy, and a male child looking version of you punishes him in one way while rewarding him in another,” Eric explained to the female.

“I am well aware of the show you speak of, child. I am aware of all shows you know of, and those you do not,” the woman told him, stopping just a few feet from him.

“Cool… that must get boring if you already know everything,” Eric said with a bit of sympathy in his voice. The woman laughed. It sounded... soothing, yet at the same time harsh. Either way, Eric was uncomfortable.

“You are an interesting one, I must say. It’s a shame what I must do to you,” the woman said ominously.

“Who are you? And why must you do something to me?” Eric asked, squirming a tiny bit in nervousness though he kept it to a minimum.

“I go by many names, child. There are songs that try to speak of me, to shed some glimmer on what I truly am. Many are new, and many are old. But the name I prefer, the name I most commonly choose, is simply, Mother,” she lifted a hand to Eric’s face, stopping inches from it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mother… at least right now,” Eric said with a tilt of his head. “You didn’t answer the second question,” He added as a comment.

“That, my child is simple. I am going to split you from your more malicious half,” Mother explained, her hand glowing with white aura, nearly blinding Eric. “I am sorry. This will not be pleasant.”

“Wait wh-” he began, only to be cut off when he was blasted back into a white, stone door. Walls of the same substance formed around him, and he fell from the door to see himself trapped. “Well this is a thing now.” He let out a grunt as the door swung open, knocking him into the opposite wall, and he got up to see something that sent a chill through his spine. Mouths. Hundreds, thousands, millions, uncountable numbers of mouths, all snapping their jaws and drawing closer by the second.

“That’s all kinds of fuck no!” Eric said, trying to back away. His back reached the tall, thick, white stone wall behind him. “Well, shit.” The mouths reached him, and tore into his body, rending, ripping, tearing, and gnawing on his flesh, dragging him into the door as they ate him alive.

He screamed in pain for as long as he could, before his mind was overwhelmed and he passed out. But the pain continued, even in unconsciousness. He woke again, feeling his flesh return painfully and then be rent, ripped, torn, and eaten all over again. This happened for so long and for so many times he lost count, reduced to naught but a pile of tears and blood soaked flesh.

Eventually, he simply grew numb to the pain. The exact same thing happening only works for so long, after all.

Then, he blacked out, the pain fading, but his psyche damaged.

Eric awoke screaming and flailing around, only for five of the SOULs to break out of their tubes and float over to him, sending soothing energy as they entered him like the first did before them, making him stop thrashing and instead start sobbing. At this point the others came, Noah and Mez with their kids coming to find Eric sobbing. Questions were asked but mostly it was them trying to calm Eric down.

“Where the hell is Will?” Noah wondered. He looked to the children that were with him until he came running in, rubbing his head.

“Damn low ceilings- oh hell, Eric!” he said, running to him. The other kids were with him, and rushed to their Uncle, trying to figure out what was wrong along with the others.

“Eric, what’s wrong? Calm down and talk to us!” Noah told the sobbing man. Eric didn’t seem too capable of that really, anything he managed to say too choked up by sobs to be understandable.

“Noah, come on let’s get him to the couch,” Will said before looking at everyone else. “Find some blankets that are useable.” The others nodded while Noah helped Will take Eric to the couch in the living room. It took a long while, but in time, they arrived in the first room and placed the man on the couch. Noah looked to the hearth.

“I’m going to go find something to light this hearth up,” Noah said, leaving the room. Will nodded as some of the kids brought him a blanket. Will put it on Eric as he seemed to be calming down a bit but was still sobbing. Noah came back with a bag of lint and wax, along with an old style Zippo lighter that had a special design on it, one of cowboy at in the light of the moon. Noah walked over to the hearth, carefully set some of the fire starting material under and around the logs, then took his lighter and lit it all ablaze. A few minutes later, the logs were burning, and the room was heating up a bit.

Eric had calmed a little more after a while, curled into a ball and the blanket wrapped tight around himself. Will frowned at this before looking at Noah.

“I’m going to go take a look around where Eric was last,” he said before started to walk that way. He looked over at Mez. “Mind coming with me? If something happens I prefer if someone starts yelling and screaming that I’m gone.” Mez nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll follow you,” Mez said, sending a worried glance to Eric, then her lover, before following Will back down the tunnel.

This was a new world. And that meant new dangers. It was only now that the group started to fully realise that. And they would only further that knowledge in the coming days.

Much was in store for them.