The raccoon has just begun a rather … unplanned … ride. The disk which just bumped into him and which is now conveying him is doing so at a very brisk pace, hovering right over the floor of the tunnel, buoyed by who-knows-what. Magic? Now, it's headed down a side passage … toward another shaft! It's going IN THERE!

Fenter plasters himself to the floor of the disk as he murmurs feverish prayers to any benovelent entity that might be able to save him and promises to be good and eat his vegetables and go to bed on time and anything else he can think of. When he runs out of things to promise he just screams as loudly as he can muster… it relieves the stress a bit.

The disc plunges down the shaft, taking the raccoon with it! Stone and crystal zips by … and just as suddenly, the disc comes to a jerking halt … at the next level down?

Fenter oomphs as the disk stops. He creaks open an eye and peers around.

The disk zips out of the shaft, into the passage … It pauses in the intersection for a moment. The raccoon has been here before. This is the long passage that just keeps going north, but which nobody bothered going all the way north before. And … now the disc is going north. Very quickly.

The scared-silly raccoon creaks open the other eye and clings even more to the floor of the disk. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLP!" he wails.

The disc keeps right on going, the glowing veins becoming just blurs as they rush by. Ahead, there's a brighter light … and the air is getting warmer.

Fenter tries to scrabble to his feet. "Bright light… I wonder if this is that place all my dead relatives told me about."

The tunnel comes to an end … but the disc doesn't stop. Instead, it rushes out into a … really … BIG chamber. Forget the Temple. Forget the Tower of Babel. Forget the Jade Palace. All those "really really big, you just HAVE to be impressed" places don't compare. We're talking "My own private underground glowing crystal world" here.

"Ohhh… " Fenter says, "It's a giant First-One's stickball court!"

This … big … chamber is as warm as the Savan at noonday in summertime, and bright with all manner of lights and crackling with energy. The "room" is roughly cylindrical, except that from the ceiling descends an upside-down mountain of glittering, shimmering crystal … something like the underside of Rephidim.

The Rath'ani pants in the heat and unbuttons his shirt. He checks to see if the disk is slowing down at all or if there's something soft he might be able to bail out onto.

The disc is zipping about within this complex … and there are other discs zipping about as well. Most of them, however, lack the "railing" that this one possesses, and some have other odd mineral "growths" on them. This disc seems to be heading toward that great big upside-down crystal "mountain". As for something "soft" … there's nothing that fits that description, unless you count those rivers of boiling magma running about far below.

Fenter shrinks back down at the sight of the magma, he musters up enough courage to spit over the edge of the disk as he zips along.

As the disc gets closer, it seems to be heading toward some sort of fissure in the formations. Something is going on in the crystals, to be sure. Some sections are darkening, as if they were super-heated and are now cooling. Patches are starting to look like normal rock … making the comparison to the underside of Rephidim even more appropriate.

The glob of spittle evaporates before it even gets close to the magma…

Fenter looks towards the fissure, and then screams at the top of his lungs again. "Mommmmieeeeeeeee!"

The disc flies under the fissure … pauses … then begins to shoot straight up! The tunnel is dark by comparison to the great chamber … and then nearly pitch black, though there's a hint of a light far above.

"I was sure that back there was where all my dead relatives would be, all hot and unplesant and all. They would have had a jolly good time." Fenter looks upwards at the light, perhaps he's been a good little boy afterall!

The disc continues upward, and the light above … is sunlight! The ascent slows … finally coming to a stop with the disc at the top of a hole that it fills almost perfectly … in the middle of a valley filled with lush vegetation.

It's warm here. This can't be the Vykarin Wastes. The valley is surrounded by tall ridges, as if it is situated within a very deep crater. Flowers and plant life abounds. There's even trickling water running by.

It's daytime, possibly late morning or early afternoon, the sun shining down through scattered clouds.

Fenter pauses for a moment, then scrabbles out of the disk. He kisses the ground over and over again. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Nearby, vines twist about, laden with berries. They look so lush and red … it seems like they almost GLOW with color!

Zzzz zzz zzz zzz… There seem to be a few bugs here and there, but none of them seem to be bothering the raccoon at all. In fact, the effect is almost pleasant … at least, it's a nice change from the claustrophobic surroundings of the site that Fenter has been spending who-knows-how-long in.

All about, no sign can be seen of yiffles, squibbits, Nagai truffles or hay.

The raccoon stares at the berries, the fact that this place shouldn't exist never crosses his mind, nor does the fact that he should be freezing, or that he should go back and tell the others about this place, he doesn;t even seem concerned about GOING back. The only through that crosses his mind is that he's lived off of a diet of yiffles, squibbits and hay for the past few weeks… and now there's berries before him. The thought appears in his mind pure and clear… . o O ( FOOD!!!!! )

The berry bush seems to darken just a bit … and then it looks brighter again? A cloud passes overhead.

Fenter scrabbles forward, grabs a handfull of berries and stuffs them into his mouth.

The berries are sweet, with an ever-so-slight tang to them. Funny, but there's a bit of a "buzz" feeling as the raccoon eats them, and the hair on the back of his neck stands up.

Fenter itches at the back of his neck for a moment and then starts grabbing up berries again and stuffing them into his face. He pauses to try and catch one of the little bugs as well.

The bug is a ridiculously easy catch. It's a fat one, too!

The berries are just as sweet before, and still have that tang and "buzz" to them. Funny … the raccoon's hair is standing up now, and his fur is feeling especially fluffy right now.

With great relish, the raccoon pops the bug into his mouth and munches. He itches absently at his fur, figuring this to be the side effect of reintroducing good food back into one's system after going without for so long… his fur is standing on end with glee!

The bug tastes perfectly normal … except that, given how long it's been since the last time Fenter had a "meal" like this, it's the best bug Fenter has ever tasted!

Fenter peers around for the first time, partially sated now. "Uncle Agnes? You around here anywhere?"

Nobody replies. A breeze whips about, stirring some of the grasses and plants.

It also stirs a flag that whips about in the wind. It's a white flag with a red symbol on it, flying from a wooden stick.

The raccoon ooohs at the flag, he swipes up a few more bugs and pops a few more berries in his mouth and wanders over to the flag.

The flag bears a symbol that is a variation on that of the Temple. It's the Bounded Star and Anchor, symbol of the Knights Templar. It also has a few magenta ribbons tied to the stick as well.

Fenter walks around the flag a couple of times. "Now who would leave this here? Maybe the Templars got hungry too." He peers at the base to see if the flag was recently planted.

Yes, it seems that the flag must have been very recently planted, right next to a cluster of some sort of rose … and also some flowers that look faintly familiar. They look like the kind of flower that Fetiss was inspecting earlier, brought back supposedly from outside by the Magenta Lancer, Thorn.

"Maybe they left this here so someone could find them later… " Fenter cups his hands to his mouth and bellows out, "Helooooooooo!!!!!"

The raccoon's voice echoes. The accoustics are pretty good here, really.

A few streams trickle by, and in places, they can be seen tumbling down from the mountains. There are no trees, per se, here – or, those that are here are fairly short and stubby … more chapperal than trees, really.

Fenter frowns a bit. "Well… the people here seem rather anti-social. Ah well, more for me." He walks over to one of the streams and takes a drink.

The water is clean and pure … a fair bit better than anything in Rephidim, save for whatever comes out of a distiller.

It may be a trick of the light … but some of those flowers over there seemed to change colors.

Despite the purity of the water, Fenter doesn't seem at all pleased. In his version of eternal bliss there wouldn't be WATER running through the streams afterall.

The raccoon crawls over to one of the flowers and glares at it. "You didn't just do something you're not supposed to be able to, did you?"

The flower slowly fades from lemon yellow to a vibrant orange. If Fenter were from a world to use such a term, he could call it "neon" orange. The flowers nearby change hue in a similar fashion.

Another cloud rolls by, blocking the sun. It drifts by, but another takes its place. As the sky darkens a bit, the flowers seem to glow in comparison. There are so many of these flowers, spread out all over the valley in clusters.

Fenter reaches out and snaps the closest flower off at the stem, he sniffs at it.

The flower immediately fades and darkens, and soon takes on a grayish pallor.

The flower smells like a flower. It's a fairly pleasant scent, even as the flower loses its color.

"Ack! I broke it." The raccoon looks around nervously, then realizing that there's nobody around here to get on his case about it… he takes a bite out of the flower, just in case it turns out to be edible.

The raccoon's vision seems to blur a little bit. All this excitement must be making him tired…

The flower is tasteless and bland, quite unlike the berries. Even so, he gets another "buzz".

Fenter yawns as he munches down the rest of the flower. He peers around for a comfortable place to sleep.

There are plenty of places to choose from. The softest-looking spot is probably that collection of faintly-glowing clovers right in the very center of the valley.

The raccoon smiles goofily and crawls over to the patch of clover, he munches on a little just for an experiment (everything in his paradise is edible afterall) and and tries to get comfortable.

The clover tastes just like clover, just with the addition of that strange "buzz". The raccoon's fur is now standing completely on end, but he soon dozes off in the midst of the patch… A cloud passes overhead. It gets dark.

It gets quiet.

Fenter drools in his sleep.

Lights! The raccoon sees lights. It's as if he's floating in space – lit by a multitude of stars – and ahead is this really bizarre glowing shape, looking vaguely like an eye with lots of vines stretching out from it. It looks a WHOLE lot like something Kame Ikata would paint. In fact, it probably is. The "vines" twist and writhe. It's almost like the vines are waving to him.

Fenter waves back at the vines. "Halooo!"

The vines wave back. Waving vines? No … it's almost like they're TALKING to him. Isn't that weird? But then, dreams are that way. Presuming this is a dream, that is…

"You don't look like mu Uncle Agnes… you're much more handsome and don't have near as much hair as I remember." the raccoon says cheerily to the vines.

"… Please respond … " comes the 'message' from the waving vines. The rest is so hard to discern.

The Rath'ani rubs his chin, he tries to reach out and shake one of the vines. "Howdy there. I'm responding… helooo!"

There is a pause, as, for a moment, the vines halt. The image fades into blackness.

"You're very rude!" Fenter harumphs. "I was trying to be polite… "

A point of light appears … then spreads out into another pattern, very much like the first. The vines wave, "Acknowledged. We will come for you."

Fenter grins. "Bring food!"

The vines wave, "In abundance." The image fades into darkness again. And then the darkness recedes … revealing a raccoon lying amidst clovers, in his own drool.

It's raining on the raccoon.

Fenter sits upright and looks around. He acks and pulls his shirt over his head as the rain falls and looks for a place to run for cover.

There's no cover to be found, it seems … unless the raccoon can try going back into that tunnel again. The railing of that disc can still be seen.

Fenter grabs a few more berries and crams them into his mouth then rushes towards the disc. "Ohwell… so much for paradise."

As soon as the raccoon gets onto the disc … it drops! But then, was that really a surprise? It shoots down into the tunnel, back the way it came … and then back into that bright, hot room again. Still no sign of Uncle Agnes.