"RUN!" yelled Cat and Stickman together.  

They knew what it was. Different planet though it may be, that haunting call could never vanish from their souls.  

Harooo!  

Clattering sounds came from the thing as it picked up speed towards them. Rion became highly agitated immediately, puffing up and bounding down the hall ahead of them. Stickman scurried after it, trying to grab onto its tail as it flew away. Not far behind was Cat, looking over his shoulder, his blood running cold. That thing behind them was a lumbering skeleton of an impossible creature.  

Round a corner they ran, blocking the view of the menace, but not the echoing sound of its blood-seeking limbs hitting the metal floor.  

Harooo!  

"Where's Ewansa and Whisper?" panicked Cat, looking around. Rion hovered near the ceiling, disoriented, having launched itself hard into the ceiling.  

"He's slower! No...!" cried Stickman, running back to the corner. Looking down that long misty corridor the little figure beheld the ominous spinal column rumbling nearer, and almost as a small bug he saw Ewansa struggling to run. Despite the improvements in his speed since he'd arrived, his limbs were malformed and twisted. They had wrapped him in formal clothing and armour, but he was still the torn one. The one the faerie left behind. Whisper was floating near him, worried.  

Then it happened.  

HA-RAK!  

The creature lanced forth its longest sharpest bone and pierced Ewansa through the back.  

"EWANSA!!" bellowed Stickman, running towards him, forgetting what danger was there.  

The bone erupted from the armoured body's chest like a spear, hitting the floor hard. Ewansa tried to collapse, but was held up by the cruel spike goring him. It twisted sharply, and began drawing blood into its dry bones.  

Cat emerged from around the corner, taking in the scene with horror. Above the shaking form floated Whisper, making erratic squawking noises, moving faster and faster, its body vibrating angrily.  

Ewansa struggled with his arms, fumbling with his claws to reach his neck. With a click, the helmet toppled off. The baleful naked eyeball in that torn skull looked up at the form consuming it. Torn skin accepted the dank air of the metallic tunnel and white bone shone beside white bone. This was Ewansa, creature of the faerie Fe'Hihi, born of suffering and death.  

He twisted his head around, snapping neck muscle to do so. Meeting the monster's eyeless gaze, he rasped, "Tiiiime to plaaaaaay!" He then snapped his arms backwards, breaking the joints at the shoulders, and slashed deep gouges in the monster's bone talons.  

ROOOOOO!  

The creature howled with rage and pain. It ripped the spike out of Ewansa, throwing his torn body hard against a wall. Blood splattered across it, marking the trail to where he fell. Then it turned its attention to Cat, fresher blood did it smell.  

"Another one!" cried Stickman suddenly.  

A second smaller bone creature leapt down from above. But it landed in the horns of the first, locking gazes with it. It was fiercely angry. It glowed with power and vengeance.  

"It's Whisper!" yelled Cat, noticing the translucent form.  

The little ghost-form twisted the massive bone creature about, pulling it away from the others. It burned with hate at what the thing had done to Ewansa. The walls around it began to bend, drawn towards the little wisp. Slowly its form became more opaque. The bone creature struggled, but could not free itself from Whisper's grasp. Slight cracking sounds started to spread throughout its large thick skull.  

ROOOOOO!  

The monstrous form bashed Whisper into the ceiling, causing it to squeal in pain. Then it was forced back into a wall itself, crashing with a loud clatter.  

"Hurry, get Rion! We need to get out of here!" called Cat to Stickman through gritted teeth.  

Stickman ran off to get Rion, while Cat ran to find Ewansa's body. It was slumped by the wall many meters away, blood pooled around him, a dark hole accenting the centre of his chest. "Are you..."  

The half-dead looked up at the feline, and seemed to smile. "It waaas niiice to plaaay againnn.... was looong tiiiime nooo plaaay. Isss liiiike hooooome heeeere. Thaaaaaank yooooouuu..." The final breath gently escaped the thing's mouth and its head dropped down. Cat stood numbly, ignoring the battle behind him a moment.  

"We have to go!" yelled Stickman. "Bring Ewansa!"  

Cat ran to Stickman and Rion. "He's not coming," said Cat.  

Realising what had happened to its only parent, Whisper shattered. Its formed destabilised, causing the bone creature to cry out in pain as Whisper tore up its body. Then, as they watched, Whisper directed a blast of energy at the opposing wall, and a round vortex formed. Through it they could see the familiar plains of Andonia.  

"Let's go," said Cat. Stickman and Rion quickly slipped through. Cat followed, taking one look back as Whisper tried to finish its fight, but it was fading fast. Stepping through the portal, Cat watched as Whisper faded away into nothingness.

The walls of the ancient structure blew apart like brittle bone against the weapons fire of Visch's strike team. Flashes of plasma blasts illuminated the pitch black hallway. Bizarre twisted forms punctured the walls, reaching out from crevices and floors to claw at the flesh of anyone they could reach.  

Joxx ran down the hall, afraid, but steeling himself to slip away from the rest of them, removed from that bloody chaos, to find the answer to the lost lands of Andonia.  

He made it to a grand smooth door, peaked at the top. It swung inwards at his touch, the hinges long since rotted away. The room was vast room, centred by a table with orderly chairs bolted to the floor along its length. On the table were various small instruments, possibly recording devices. Many appeared to be reasonably advanced technologically, but were non-functional. At the end of this room appeared to be some kind of screen with controls below it. A terminal of sorts. Joxx accelerated his pace, still hearing the yelling, snarling, and occasional scream of man or beast in the background.  

The short tuft dared to light his personal torch, aiming it at the display. It was indeed a screen, though it felt like rock rather than glass. He found a chair that had broken from its moorings and dragged it to the terminal to allow him to get high enough to reach the controls. There were a myriad of buttons, levers, and odd polygonal surfaces. Gingerly, Joxx tapped a finger to a large circular surface.  

"Oh!" A brief flicker of life shuddered through the system before him, images, ever so brief, then gone. He scrambled in his pouch for something to jump start this decayed machine. Then he remembered his communicator. Slipping it off his head, he unscrewed the mouth piece and slipped open the cover, revealing the connecting wires. Plucking off the receiver, he touched the two contacts to the panel and turned it on.  

The screen once again blinked to life. This time he was able to catch the weak images displayed before him. Beneath the rough surface of the rocky monitor he beheld the designs of an ancient civilisation, abandoned to time. "I KNEW it!", exclaimed Joxx excitedly.  

SHHHH-OTTA!  

The sound ripped through his body like death five seconds passed. Joxx gripped the panel tautly. Something descended behind him from above.  

"VORSCHA!!" screamed a slithery voice. A spot light illuminated a monstrous twisted thing moments before twin plasma bolts exploded into its tentacled maw.  

Dripping, still facing the console, Joxx muttered, "I t-t-think I found something."

A new land springs forth, fresh among the wilting forests of ancient regrets.  

Quickly ravaged, it is torn asunder by the hungry.  

They wait for what comes next.  

Spill forth your secrets, universe of mystery.  

Let our enemies fall to their own weapons.  

Drink thine own poison, careless soldiers.  

So goes the war.  

Kura-des che no va t'che.

Stepping forth like a spider along its web, the unsettling scientist neared Keta. "You see, dear Captain, at this institute of elevated science we have entered into a sort of partnership. Your crewmen have been very helpful in our research. As you can see, their augmentation is coming along very well."  

Keta's mind was reeling. His crew were... changed. Changed in a way he remembered, in a way he feared. How could it have come here, to Andonia?  

"Now, please come over here, Captain. You've interrupted our schedule, but I think we can get you improved rather quickly," preened the scientist.  

"No, NO!" yelled Keta. "You can't..."  

"But we can. We are far more powerful than you, I'm afraid," sneered the man, lolling back and forth erratically. "You are quite out of your element, my dear Captain." Then turning to the upgraded miners, he said, "All of you, please, hold our dear Captain still while we begin." The miners twitched their arms, various blades and saws clicked to life. Moving on sludge legs covered in eyes, they neared Keta.  

A fire lit within the broken soul of Keta Toxal, suppressed and buried, but now reawakened. He stared at the floor, concentrating. "It is you that is out of your element, Aphorus."  

Looking momentarily surprised, the scientist stopped moving and tilted his head sharply. "Why how ever did you know my name? Has my fame spread so far so soon?", a trace of glee in his macabre voice.  

"No, I heard it from the miners and the ooze that listens on the walls. In their collective minds your name rings of fear and suffering," intoned Keta, growing stronger, his voice echoing throughout the room.  

Now taking on an air of caution, Aphorus backed away from Keta. "How very curious. None of my other subjects has ever had the ability to hear such thoughts prior to being upgraded. How is it you are able to do so, dear Captain Toxal?"  

In response, Keta raised his head quickly to reveal a penetrating glow boring through the cores of his eyes. "Because I AM ALREADY UPGRADED!" With that, he lanced his arm forward out of which shot a planar beam that cut across the room, slicing through two miners, halving one completely.  

An enraged scream came from just outside the hallway. Flying on golden light came Ta, the engineer of the Venture, his eyes glowing with the same fire as Keta's. His hands had reformed into blades and as he flew into the room, he cut down another miner, splattering the walls with ichor.  

As one, Keta Toxal and Ta Po Nu Se Ki spoke with an unearthly voice, "WE ARE IMPROVED!"

Spikes of rock fired out from the cliffsides all around them as they ran down a rocky valley. The thundering march of the great beast followed them, its pace quickening. Obstacles of stone formed in their path, slowing them down.  

Cat was some ways ahead, holding aloft a small device. Suddenly he darted to the right. "This way!"  

Rion carried Stickman bounding through the air after Cat. Ewansa racing along the craggy ground with shocking dexterity. Never before had he been capable of more than a shuffle.  

"Here, HERE!" screamed Cat, brushing dirt off the surface of some sort of hatch in the ground. It looked a bit like a metal bunker, with odd scrape marks around the door's edge. Pulling out another device, Cat began furiously working at the door, trying to get it open.  

"Just a minute, Cat. I'll open it from the inside," said Stickman. Tilting his head curiously and stopping his actions for a moment, he watched as the little black form went to the seam of the door and effortlessly disappeared into it.  

A moment later a small shift of metal was heard and the door slid down, with Stickman standing proudly in the doorway.  

Cat leapt through the opening, going over a small ledge and crashing to the floor below. Rion floated through next, along with Whisper.  

THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!  

The footsteps were running now. It sounded like there was more than one. Ewansa was the last at the door, scrambling to climb up inside. Pulling at the creature's clothes, Stickman helped him inside, then quickly pulled the door closed again. A loud clang hit the door. They were inside.  

Panting, everyone started walking down the metal hallway of the bunker structure. The floor had bits of dirt along it, a trail leading deeper and deeper.  

"What is this place?" asked Stickman. "Whoa, what's up with Whisper? Check it out!" The little silhouette pointed his sharp arm at the floating infant thing.  

Its arms had taken on the shape of drills and its eyes had elongated. It very much resembled the things outside.  

"Imitate something else, Whisper," said Cat dully. But the little form looked stressed, and its shape did not alter.  

Venturing deeper into the place, they quickly found it to be endless. No sign of another way out nor decrease in the number of passages as they went on. An odd mist had formed, playing about the floor making menacing shadows. Stickman pulled on Cat's paw.  

"Don't you feel like we've been here before?" whispered Stickman quietly.  

The feline looked warily about, nodding. "Yes, everything feels oddly familiar."  

"But this is an entirely different planet, it couldn't be the same place, right?" asked Stickman nervously.  

"No," said Cat slowly, still surveying the surroundings with increased suspicion. "Couldn't possibly be exactly the same place."  

Then the light flickered across them. Movement down the hall. A loud clattering of something hard against the floor. Then a shape formed at the furthest reach of the corridor. The mist swirled about a bizarre form.  

In this dark desert place, cold and empty, here lay blood.  

Harooo!

Distant sounds, feelings, sights,  

Of interest to curious watcher.  

Idle days pass in wondrous dreams,  

But boredom of afar brings novel scenes.  

Cast about little one,  

Reach through the cloth.  

Break the membrane of probability,  

And manifest your form.  

Mushe no taras ka voresch.

Over foreign skies flew the exoskeletal runner. The air wrapped around it like a cool energising breeze. Never before had it been dizzied by the purity of anything.  

Then suddenly a warm glow curled around the traveller and mount, the two decoupled and rapidly descended, pulled down to the planet below.  

A small shape grew. The glow grew stronger as they neared and everything around the little alien began to grow in size. They were nearing the source, closer and closer. Then the sights and sounds tore, ripping apart like a dispersed cloud.  

When the senses returned, solid ground was underfoot. A smooth surface, curved inward. The little crab quickly discovered there was no way out. A dull humming sound surrounded the enclosure. Looking up, along a great tower, was a hand holding that tower, and above that a grim face.  

It was the face of one that belonged in this world as much as itself.