No matter what I tried, I just couldn't stop that sinking feeling in my chest, that longing to be with Alison. But until that feeling was gone, I wouldn't sleep. So I looked over at my clock, it was 3am. I pondered about sending Alison an sms, but decided against it. I mean I only met her last night, for me to sms her now would let her know I have strong feeling for her. I didn't want to do that yet.

So I just lay in my bed, thinking about all the strange things that happened to me in one day...

................................................................................................................................................

I awoke to a ringing in my ear, it was my alarm going off. I jumped out of bed, in realization that I was late for work. I slammed my hand down on my clock to stop that damb buzzing. I quickly looked at the clock, and saw that it was 8:15. Work started at eight, and was a ten-minute drive. I would have to hurry if I wanted to get there soon. Or else I would be "fashionable late", as my boss calls it, and he doesn't like that. So I grabbed the nearest pair of pants and socks that I could find, I picked up my cell phone and car keys off the desk, then rushed to my cupboard, and grabbed a random shirt and a belt. I ran towards my bedroom door, opened it, then ran down the passageway, picked up a pair of shoes that were lying on the floor, and sprinted towards my apartment door.

I jolted it open, and literally jumped down first flight of stairs, my landing was brilliant, considering that I was half in the act of putting on my pants. I had no time to waste, so I waddled towards the next flight, and jumped it to. As I jumped, my pants caught on my foot, causing my jump to shorten somewhat. I wasn't so lucky with my landing this time. I didn't have enough distance to clear the staircase. My first foot hit the forth stair from the bottom, followed closely by my second foot on the third stair. My pants were still not on properly, the hems were still on my feet, which cause them so slip. I fell face first towards the ground, I dropped the shoes, socks, shirt, phone and the belt, that were all held firmly under my arms. I could now use my hands to soften the landing.

As I started to move my arms upwards, which was just a natural reaction, I realized that I was too close to the ground to use my hands. All I could do now was brace myself for the impact my head was going to receive. I pulled my head upwards, and pushed my chest outward. I figured I didn't want to hit with my headfirst, I could break my neck, so I made sure the impact was dealt else were.

When my chest hit the floor, it hurt like hell, the wind was knocked out of me. But the worst part was the fact that my head was whipped downwards. It hit the ground on my forehead, and it hit hard. I don't remember much after that...

................................................................................................................................................

I awoke to the sound of people's voices, they sounded like they were close. When I opened my eyes, there was some sort of bright light shining into them. I blinked a few times, and was soon accustomed to the light. I looked around to see that I was lying in a bed, it had metal railings around the side, and a big board at the bottom. There were curtains all around me, which were hanging from railings near the roof. There was this weird smell, it smelt a bit like cleaning detergent. I was under a duvet, which I lifted up, to find that I was wearing a white robe. I looked around and saw my clothes that caused the accident in the first place, lying on my bedside table.

I decided to listen to the voices, they sounded like they were coming from just outside my curtain.

"But doctor, this is not normal! I think we should keep him here for a while, to observe his abnormality." Said the first voice. It was the voice of a woman.
"I understand your concern, but we have more pressing matters to attend to."
"Doctor, he has the highest red and white blood cell count I have ever heard of. Not to mention the massive number of cells which are mutating as we speak. It is as if his body is becoming stronger, without him doing anything. And the really weird thing is that his muscles are multiplying in strength, but not in size. If he carries on at this rate, he will be able to lift a car in a month, without any training or exercise of any sort."
"Well why didn't you say so earlier? That is indeed very peculiar. Keep him under twenty-four-hour surveillance, and make sure no one else hears about this. And I do mean no one!"
"Yes doctor. You can rely on me, I'll make sure he is isolated. In fact, I'll go check on him now. If there is nothing else you want, I don't need you help anymore. Go tend to those 'more important matters'." With that I heard the door open, then close again.

As soon as I heard the words "check on him", I thought it would be best for me to pretend to sleep. I wasn't sure who the doctor and the nurse were talking about, but I had a sneaky suspicion it was me. So I lay back down and shut my eyes, and I was just in time, for a soon as my eyes were closed, I heard my curtain open. The rail must have been rusting, because it made a huge creaking noise. When it stopped creaking, I could see, through my closed eyelids, that it was lighter.

I tried to act as if I was sleeping, I took long deep breaths, and didn't move a muscle. All my senses were on the look out, for anything that would suggest that the nurse knew I wasn't sleeping. But everything seemed fine, she wasn't moving, and seemed to be busy with something. Just then, I heard a page turn, it startled me and it took me totally off guard, I jerked and opened my eyes on impulse. The nurse was also caught off guard, she jumped back into the rail, and dropped her clipboard. I realized that she was looking at the board when I convulsed, so she wouldn't have seen my eyes open. I quickly closed my eyes, and hoped for the best.

The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes, was the nurse, fighting off the "robust" curtain. It was a really comical sight, she had herself completely entangled in the curtain, and her struggling was only making matters worse. The curtain wasn't doing anything harmful, she was just stubborn to not realize what an idiotic thing she was doing. I mean is a curtain that tough an opponent?

I hoped that she didn't see my eyes open, because I had a plan to escape from here. There was no ways I was being kept for observation. I had a few options, I just didn't know which one to take. I could pretend that her commotion woke me up, then try and convince her to let me go, which I doubted would work. Or I could remain "asleep", and wait until she had gone, then hope that no one comes in, and try to bolt for it. Or I could render her unconscious while she was battling it out with the curtain, grab my clothes, and make a run for it.

I figured I had the best chances with the latter one, so I jumped up, took the curtain, and wrapped it around the nurse. Then I grabbed the nearest thing to me, which happened to be the clipboard, and I beat her over the head with it. I hit her over and over, harder and harder, I was going to make sure she was out for the count. I carried on hitting her, until I actually broke the board, which was quite a difficult thing to do, considering that it was a finger thick plank of wood, reinforced with metal. I had snapped it in half, nearer to the top end of the board. When I looked down, I saw that the curtain was stained red, around her head. I had gotten a bit carried away, and ended up doing more damage than I had intended to. But at least she was out for the count...

With the nurse out of the way, all that was left for me to do, was to leave. So I got dressed into my clothes, and left the overalls behind. I walked towards the nurse, and tried to open the curtain as quietly as possible. But they were already partially open, and I figured that if anyone else was in the room, they would have come to inspect what was happening here, so I just opened the curtain normally. It made a bigger noise than I would have liked, but it didn't really matter, because when it was fully open, I saw that I was alone. No matter what I did, I wasn't going to be able to hide the body, but I could hide the weapon, so I took the clipboard, and left the room.

I must have looked pretty suspicious walking with this blood stained broken clipboard, but then again it was a hospital, there wasn't much blood, and clipboards do break. So I just walked, I walked all the way down the passage I was in, I walked up to the elevator, and walked into it. Then I looked at the floor number, I was on level 8 of the hospital, and alone in the elevator. It would too far to walk down the stairs, so I just pushed the ground floor button, and hoped no one else wanted to use the lift.

Apparently the hospital wasn't busy, because so far, I had taken to lift down 5 floors and I hadn't stopped, but then again I wasn't all the way down. I kept my eyes on the level numbers, and hoped that every one was taking the stairs, which was highly improbable. I was on level 2 when I heard this sudden "ting" and the numbers stopped moving. Some one was getting into the lift with me. I hid the board behind my back, and stepped towards the back of the lift. When the doors opened, I saw a bed, it was vacant, but there were two people pushing it. They just walked in and nodded at me, then they pushed the close button, and carried on talking. They were obviously also going to the ground floor, so all I had to do, was let them go out first, then walk out the front doors, and I was in the clear.

It didn't take long to go down one floor, but it felt like an eternity, I just stood with baited breath, hoping that everything was going to be all right. The seconds ticked away, but they felt like minutes. All the time I just watched the numbers on top of the lift, and all of a sudden the light ticked over to the 'G' and the bed was out in a super fast time. It was really weird to see time slow down, and then all of a sudden, it pops back to normal and speeds up even more than normal, then it slow back down again. I wonder if other people notice this to? But then again, I'm not really a normal person am I?

Once the bed guys were out of the lift, I just stood there for a few seconds, then I decided to just casually walk out, with the board. So I did, I walked straight out the lift and went for the door, I walked with my eyes in front of me, and just tried not to look suspicious. I was near the motion sensors when a guard called out.

"Hey! Hey you. You with the clipboard." He was calling me, and I couldn't just ignore him, he would chase me.
I turned around, flipped over the board, so that the blood was on the bottom and replied
"Who me?" I know it wasn't smooth, but who cares.
"Yeah. Where do think you are going with that board? It is hospital property."
"I know, but some doctor asked me if I was leaving, then told me to throw it in the trash outside. So here I am." I thought I should try to cover up my tracks.
"Well that is not supposed to happen. All broken items are to be taken to the separate refuse bins."
"I know, but the doctor told me all the close ones were full, and he was busy, so he just gave it to me. I really don't mind carrying a little board."
"Well I suppose, it's not really going to make a difference in the world, and I'm sure as hell not going to walk all the way to some special bin. So I guess you could just throw it away on your way out."
"Sure."

With that I turned around and walked back towards the door. My heart was pounding, and I just wanted to get home. So I walked briskly towards freedom, and then walked through the pearly white gates. I was free, well at least for now...

When I got home, I looked at my answering machine and saw two messages. I pushed the play button, and sat down to listen to them. The first one was from my boss, he was irate about me being so late, without an explanation. I didn't really care what he had to say, I would phone him when I got round to it. The second call was much more interesting, it was from "Ali". It went as follows.

"Hi Danny, this is Ali. I just wanted to phone, to thank you for the wonderful time I had last night. We should do something tonight, so just phone me when you get this. Bye."

After hearing that, I decided to go to her. I didn't need to phone her, a visit would be a lot better. So I got up again, got changed into some decent clothes, then grabbed my phone, keys and wallet. I was going to make a little stop before going to her work...

................................................................................................................................................

"Delivery for Alison McCoy." I said.
"She's on the first floor, just ask around for her."

With that the security door clicked open, and I walked inside Alison's office building. I then proceeded to walk up the first flight of stairs. Upon reaching the top, I saw her. Sitting in her desk, with her head buried in work. I decided that I would surprise her with my present, so I slowly walked over to where she was sitting, I just hoped that she didn't look up and see me coming.

I reached her in no time, and luckily she hadn't taken her head out of her work. I was in front of her desk, she would have seen me straight away, if she had a second to spare. I took out her gift, and put it in front of her, clear for the world to see. This caught her attention all right, she looked at it, then proceeded to look up my arm. She traced her way from my hand, all the way up to my shoulders. By this time, she was starting to smile. She paused for a while, then started looking up again, when she reached my mouth, she giggled a bit, the moved on, she skipped the rest of my face, and moved straight to my eyes. When our eyes connected, her smile was in full bloom, it was a wonderful smile, and when I saw it, I wanted to smile as well. But the circumstances didn't permit it, I wasn't finished yet.

We just kept still, and looked into each other's eyes, for what seemed like an eternity. Then I spoke.

"Madam, I have a gift for you. Accept it as an offering. They were chosen from a fine selection, and are the best of the lot. So what do you say madam?" I said
"They're beautiful...thank you." Said Alison.

She then proceeded to take my present and smile.
"Thanks Danny. I really don't know why you gave me them, but thank you, it was sweet."
"Pleasure. I just thought I'd surprise you. I had some free time after the hospital, so I bought these, and came here after hearing your message."
"Why were you at hospital?"
"I had a little accident. I was late for work, so I was hurrying, and I tripped on the way down the stairs. Next thing I know I'm lying in the hospital bed."
"That's horrible. Are you going to be all right?"
"Yeah, the doctor said I'd be fine, and you know, that's the first time I've been to hospital, so I guess I'm normally lucky."
"Yeah, I guess. All that matters is that there isn't going to be any permanent damage."
"Yeah. Anyway enough gloom talk, lets change the subject."
"Okay. What do you have in mind?" She asked.
"Coffee."
"I would love to get some...but I'm really busy at the moment, I just can't go out. Maybe tonight?"
"That a bummer, but tonight would be cool. How about we go clubbing?"
"Sounds great."
"Okay, it's easier to walk to somewhere close, that way we can get horribly drunk, and not have to worry bout driving. So me and a couple friends will meet at your house. How does 10 sound?"
"Great. I'll bring along say 5 friends, you do the same."
"Sure, I better leave you to your work then. I'll see you at 10."

She then got up to say good-bye, and on her ascent, she knocked over a huge pile of loose pages. They plummeted off the desk and towards the floor. I tried to catch them, but I just wasn't quick enough. They flew past my hands and collided with the floor. They separated and spread over the floor.

"Shit!" Alison shouted.
She bent down, and started to pick them up, I obviously kneeled down and helped.
"Dammit, that's all I need now!" Alison said.
"Don't worry I'll help you." I said.

She looked up at me, and I looked down towards her. She looked upset, and was obviously having a bad day. So I started to cheer her up now, and would finish tonight. I lifted my one hand, and ran it along her cheek, from her ear to her lips. When I reached her lips, she closed her eyes, and seemed to be genuinely comforted. Then she opened her eyes and merely said.
"Thank you. That is just what I needed."

Then we carried on tidying up the mess. Once we had finished, she walked with me to the front door. There were several people waiting to get inside, so we waited for them to be let in, or denied access. We just stood in silence until they were all gone, which didn't take long at all. Then she leaned towards me and whisper sweat nothings into my ear...

................................................................................................................................................

"Danny! Where the hell have you been?!?" shouted my boss.
"I was in hospital you asshole! Now just calm the fuck down, and leave me alone!" I calmly replied.
"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Said my boss.
"I don't give a shit who you are! Don't give me shit, and I'll think about letting you off."

With that I walked passed him, our shoulders touched, and I forced his out of the way, so that I could walk past. Then I walked over to my cubicle, sat down and made it look like I was doing work. I had been sitting there for no more than a minute or two, when a delivery boy arrived with a package for me. It was a padded envelope that I signed for on impulse, but there was something strange about this envelope. It was black, and had nothing on the front, besides the address and my name, but on the back it had a red pentagram wax seal. There was only one "person" who would send that to me. It was from Albert.

I opened it up, and pulled out the message. It was white paper, with a red snake pattern as a border. It read as follows...

Danny, I'm sure you know who this is, and if you don't, you need serious help.
Upon receiving this, you should check your bank balance, and then read the rest of the message.

After reading that. I paused, and decided to heed Albert's words, well the words about the bank, not his cocky comment. I would have to deal with that element of cheek when I returned to him. But for now I turned to my computer, and open my banking site. I logged in, and clicked on the balance button. It opened the page quickly and I nearly fell of my seat! The balance had to be wrong, I mean I have never even seen that many zeros before! If it was correct, which I am sure it isn't, I had a copious amount of money at my disposal, and the first thing I would do is quit my job.

Now for the rest of the letter...

I can just imagine the look on your face after seeing that! It cracks me up!
Okay back to business, the amount you saw, was correct. You do have a massive balance now. Feel free to do what you want with it. And remember, don't take anyone's crap.

Now, I would like to inform you, that in a month, your time on earth will be over. You and Alison will come here, and begin your training. You better inform her of this soon, and prepare her for it. When it is time, I will contact you.

Albert...

Strangely the fact that I was going to have to leave earth didn't bother me, I was more worried about the money. I just had to check that balance again, there had to be a mistake. Maybe that bump on my head, was making me imagine things. I clicked refresh and waited for my worst-case scenario to be confirmed. But when the page loaded, I saw that same huge figure again. So it had to be true. I was rich, and I was going to march up to my wanker boss's office right now, and quit.

So I did, I walked straight there, and prepared myself to not laugh, when I saw the look on his face. I opened the door, and went to his desk, he was on the phone, and he gave me the evil eye when he saw me. Only it wasn't evil at all, it was the eye of a kitten compared to me, compared to Satan.

I grabbed the phone out of his hand, and slammed it down on the receiver. Then I looked at him, and gave him my evil eye, and I could see that he nearly shat in his pants.

"Listen Bob, I'm quitting, and there's nothing you can do about it. As of today, I no longer work here, I'll hand in my official resignation when I want to. But I'm no longer coming to work, and I'd like to see you try and stop me."

Then I walked out of his office, towards my cubicle, where I picked up my stuff, and left the building. I had never felt better in my whole life. I marched straight to my car, and drove to the bank to get some confirmation on the balance, and to draw some cash. All the way there I was dreaming, I mean, how would you feel if you knew you would never have to work again? Not that it matter, what with me not going to live on earth anymore and all.

In my enlightened state, I almost drove past the bank, but I stopped just in time. I walked into the bank, and headed towards the queue. The bank was pretty busy, so the queue was huge, and I didn't feel like waiting, so I tried my luck. I walked up to the back of the queue, and started pushing the people out the way, I nudged past them, and was making good progress. Until some one grabbed me by the shoulder, and turned me around, it was some macho guy, who thought he could over power me. This wasn't true, so I took his hand, and lifted it off my shoulder, then I pulled it downwards, and turned it over. I stopped when his elbow was bent and positioned in front of his solar plexus.

He was fighting against me the whole time, but he was just too weak. I looked him in the eye, then stepped back, still holding his hand. He was mesmerized by what was happening, so he couldn't do much. Other people were also watching now, but I didn't care. I yanked the man's hand towards me, and when his body started to follow, I propelled his lower arm back towards him. My plan worked perfectly, his elbow hit him square in the solar plexus. It knocked the wind out of him, and made him topple over onto the floor. This left the queue open for me.

The people in front of me just moved out of the way. There was one weird thing about this thought, there were no guards. I'm sure they were here, they were just nowhere to be seen, which struck me as odd. I didn't really care, I just moved to the till, gave the attendant my info, and asked for a balance inquiry. While she put the info in, it suddenly struck me that she better not see the balance. So when she was finished entering my details, I asked her to turn the screen towards me. She did as instructed, and I was lucky that she did. Because the balance was enormous! I also thought I shouldn't draw from her, so I told her that was all I needed, and I left the till.

I thought I better find another ATM to draw from, incase the guards showed up. On the way out, I saw the man from the queue still lying on the floor, I had done more damage than I thought I had. But I didn't care, he was in my way, and I didn't have time for some stupid human. I walked past him and laughed, before I turned away, and made for the door. I went outside, and straight to my car. I turned the keys and drove away to the closest bank I could think of.

When I got there, there was no queue at the ATM, so I quickly jumped out my car, grabbed a bag, and ran for the machine. I put my card in, and entered my pin. Then I chose to withdraw from my cheque account, and waited for the balance. I was really excited to have all this money, I could now do what ever I wanted. When the balance showed up, I was taken completely off guard, the balance was only R10 000! How could that be??? A few minutes ago, I had millions, and now it was all gone! This was preposterous!!! I had gone from riches to rags in minutes!!!

There had to be some problem with the machine! There just had to be! So I took my card out, and tried again. I put the card in and slowly entered my pin, I was allowed access again, and I was about to click on "Draw from Cheque", when something occurred to me. Perhaps I should choose to draw from my savings. Hopefully my money was in there! So I clicked on "Draw from Savings", and waited with baited breath.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity, but was merely a few seconds, when finally, the balance popped up. I nearly fainted! All my money was back, and in safe hands! This was the most relieved I had ever been. All that worrying was for nothing! I could relax, and draw all the money I wanted. I took a deep breath, and blinked a few times, to make sure I wasn't dreaming, then I clicked on "Draw own amount" and typed in a substantially large sum of money. Then I checked around to make sure no one was watching, and click on "Draw now". Then I got the bag ready, and started to put the money that was flying out the machine, into the bag.

All the notes were R500's and they were starting to fill up the bag. When the bag was close to the full stage, and I was starting to get worried, when the money finally stopped coming out. I quickly grabbed my card and receipt, and sprinted towards my car. As I got there, a person walked up to the ATM, I was out of there just in time. I didn't want anyone to see my withdrawal, and lady luck was on my side today.

I decided against counting, or even looking at the money, until I got home, so I started the car, and made for home...

................................................................................................................................................

"What do you mean you quit work Danny? You can't just do that!" Replied Alison over the phone.
"Well I did, and I'll never have to worry about money again. You see Albert sent me a cheque, and now I have no money problems for the rest of my life."
"Well aren't you lucky?"
"Yeah I guess. Taking all things, except one, into consideration, I think this calls for a celebration. Don't you?"
"Hell yeah! But if you don't mind me asking, what is the one thing?"
"I don't want to tell you over the phone, so how about you leave work, and meet me out for an early supper? Then we can go clubbing afterwards." I suggested.
"You know I can't. I would really like to, but we are just too busy."
"So quit! After what I tell you, it wont matter anyway. Trust me. Just walk up to you boss, and tell her you are leaving, and that you'll hand in your resignation tomorrow."
"But what if it doesn't work?"
"What can she do if you leave? Fire you? That is the same as you quitting, except if she fires you, it is more of a hassle for her."
"Okay I will! I've had enough of this bitch for more than one life time!"
"Good for you!"
"Thanks. So where do you want to go?"
"I really don't mind. How about you choose a restaurant that you have always wanted to go, but could afford, or had no one to go with, and we'll go there." I suggested.
"Okay that sounds great. I have the perfect place in mind, I'll phone them and make a booking, if I can, and then I'll get back to you."
"Sure. Speak to you later then." I said
"Bye."

................................................................................................................................................

"So how did it go?" I asked.
"Great. I feel totally rejuvenated. I'm finally free of work obligations. I left that bitch boss behind in a trail of dust on my way out. Enough work talk, lets forget about it, and just have fun." Alison replied.
"No complaints here. What time are the reservations?"
"8:30. We still have 10 minutes, what do you want to do?"
"Lets just relax. I have had a busy day, what with picking up all the papers you dropped."
"Hey. It was an accident."
"Yeah, yeah. If you say so."

Alison then playfully punched me, and we laughed together. The only problem was when she hit me, it actually hurt, and since then I have the feeling that I'm forgetting something. But I've done everything I need to.
"Not everything Danny." Said a voice in my head.

"What the fuck?!?!" I shouted.
"What's wrong Danny?" asked Alison.
"I...I think I just heard Albert talking to me. Hold on while I check." I replied
"Indeed you did, now shut up, so that you don't attract too much attention. Instead of talking, just think what you want to say. "
"Okay. Is it working?" I replied.
"Yes. I think you know why I'm here Danny. It's time."
"But you said I would have a month."
"And you did. A month has passed here since you got your money. Now lets get to business. Have you told Alison yet?"
"No. I was planning on telling her at dinner. I only got the cheque a few hours ago.'
"Well that's too bad, you're just going to have to tell her now. Then you must kiss her, and you must both think about coming here, and you shall. I have to go, I can't do this for long. I will explain everything to you when you get here."
"Are you still there?" I asked

There was no reply, so I assumed he was now gone. I had to tell Alison now, I could feel that it was important for me to leave earth.

"It was him." I told Alison.
"What did he have to say?"
"He said that it was of utmost importance for us to go to him now. All we have to do, is kiss and think about going there."
"But do we have to go now?"
"Yes. We have no choice Alison, and I don't like it either, but we have to go."
"Why?"
"Listen, we have no say in the matter. One day, I will rule, but for now, we have to listen to Albert. He's the only one who knows what's happening to us. So lets just get it over with." I instructed her.
"But..."
"Listen, I don't want to fight, lets just go. We have both outgrown this planet, we must leave for now, but we'll come back one day. I promise. Now I don't want to fight, so please just come with me."

She paused for a while, then she spoke.
"Okay, okay. I'll go, but you own me big time for this."
"Thanks, and don't worry, I'll pay you back some day."

With that I leaned towards her, and out lips touched. I was thinking about going "home", and I guess she was as well. Because soon after our lips touched, everything started to move, my eyes were close, but I could feel the ground moving. I held on to Alison, as tightly as possible, just incase some thing happened. When I opened my eyes, I saw us spiraling out of the sky, and towards the ground. We were in a white and purple sphere that was flying rapidly downwards. The sphere looked like a ball of light, there was white and purple sparks flying around it, they were all connected together, and formed a sort of protective shield. There were more purple "sparks", and they moved faster than the whites. The sphere had no holes in it, but you could still see through it.

Now that I knew we weren't on earth, I figured I could let go of Alison, so I did, but she still clung to me, which I didn't mind. She had her head buried I my chest, and her whole body was pushed up against mine, which I obviously liked.

I looked down and saw that we were moving towards a building on the ground, it was huge, and looked a bit like a castle. There were four towers on each corner of the building. The building its self was black, and had a red and black stained roof. The roof was pointed and had many crescendos, they all looked equal in height. I counted them, and found that there were five in the main section of the castle, and a few more, in the separate wings.

The landscape was totally foreign, there was grass, but it was red, and what looked like sand, was black. Far in the distance, I could see a white light, shining over what looked like a mountain, but from that distance, I couldn't be sure what it was. There seemed to be no sun, unless the light was the sun, but I highly doubted that. There were dark red clouds, and some sort of light was seeping through, but it wasn't the sort of light that I was accustomed to. The clouds made it appear red, and gave the landscape an eerie colour, and feel.

We were nearing the building, and I could now see people standing at the front steps. We would land soon, and I was starting to get nervous, I mean what was going to happen down there. Then I thought about all the Albert has told me, and I figured fuck it, what can happen to me?

The sphere started to slow down, and holes started to form in between the "sparks". They were still held firmly together, but it was clear that we would be disembarking soon. The electric trail that the "sparks" left behind started to shorten. We were slowing down to a grinding halt, a few more seconds, and we would be there. As we touched down, the sphere disbanded, and left Alison and myself standing on the ground.

I looked up to the top of the stairs, and I saw a group of people start to run towards us, when they got within ten metres, they all went down onto their knees They put their hands together and bowed from the floor, they were all whispering the same words...

"He has returned..."

They repeated the phrase over and over again, and it was starting to get a little freaky. Alison now had her head out of my chest, and she looked puzzled and shocked by what she was seeing. I looked up at the building, and saw a familiar figure standing by his lonesome on the steps. He was smiling and seemed very pleased at the events that were taking place.

He shook his head, and started to make his way towards us. I saw that his feet didn't touch the ground, and he was hovering down the steps. When he reached the bottom, his body stayed airborne, and he just floated towards us. He was doing it with ease, and he seemed to have had a lot of practice. When he got to the edge of the group, he made a parting notion with his hands, and all the disciples, moved out the way, even though they had their backs to him. He must have great power to accomplish these tasks with such ease and grace.

He continued to part the disciples and was nearly upon us, when he was past the disciples he continued to move. He came another five feet, before stopping, and smiling at me.

"Hello Albert," I said, "How have things been keeping?"
"Very well Danny, very well indeed." He replied, with a welcoming look on his face.
"Hi." Said Alison.
"Hello Alison, having fun?"
"What do you think? I've just left my whole life behind, and now I'm on some strange planet, with a bunch of worthless missionaries."
"Well it looks like you're enjoying your self, and that's what's important... Danny, we have no time to waste, please come with me, and I will give you your task."
"What's happening? Why did you call us here?"
"I'll explain everything inside. Just follow me."

With that we walked, and Albert floated, through the disciples, and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, Albert stopped, turned around, and told the people on the floor, to get up. They did as he commanded, but they just stood there, waiting for something.

"They'll continue their training when we leave. So lets go."

He then turned around again, and walked towards the huge front door. He stopped, made a gesture for us to follow, and then opened the doors. They open smoothly, their size not a factor. When they opened they revealed a marvelous sight, the room I was looking into was enormous, the walls looked to be at least ten metres high, and the room itself stretched out for as far as I could see. The walls were painted black, and the floor tiles were also black, with red shapes, that I couldn't make out, inscribed in them. There was a staircase in the middle of the room, with a dark black wooden railing, and a red carpet. There were several paintings on the walls, and many decorative objects scattered throughout the room.

"Come with me, we don't have time for the tour now, I'll personally show you the entire castle in due time. But for now, you'll just have to be content knowing that you time will come." Instructed Albert.

He floated towards the staircase, and climbed it quickly, we followed, and tried to keep up. At the top of the stairway, there was a three-way intersection, Albert took the middle one, and climbed another set of stairs. Upon reaching the top, he stopped, and took a key out of his pocket, he put it into the keyhole and turned the key, the door clicked open, and well all entered. It was a relatively small room, with several doors leading off it. Albert clapped twice and a servant came to his beckon, he instructed the servant to call the High Priests of Energia, and tell them that he was ready for them.

The servant left, and returned almost immediately, he walked up to Albert, and whispered in his ear.

"They are ready. Lets not keep them waiting." Said Albert.
We got up, and walked towards the door the servant had just been into. When we reached it, Albert stopped, put his hands us to stop us, and turned around.

"Now I must warn you, these men are not to be messed with. What ever you do, do not show any disrespect or anger towards them."
"I'll try."
"No you wont! You have no choice in the matter! You WILL do as I say, or perish disobeying."
"Listen Albert, I'm sick of your shit, I am the ruler here, and you will obey me."

Albert lifted up his hand, and slapped me extremely hard on the side of my face. His hand was back where it had been, before I had seen a thing.
"What the fuck was that for?!?" I shouted.
"If you don't listen to me, I'll put you in your place. Now calm down, and prepare yourself, for the most overwhelming experience of your life."

I had had enough of his shit, I needed to put him down, but I would need to be really fast.
"Don't even think about it Danny." Shouted Albert.

He was reading my thoughts again, there was nothing I could do to stop him, and until I become more powerful, I will never be able to hurt him. He would know what I was going to do. I had no choice, I had to leave Albert, and go into the room. So I swallowed my pride, braced myself for what was behind the door. Then I opened it and slowly walked inside...