Amy looked around the cave, desperately trying to find another way out than the entrance that Stephen was sitting in. "You know, there's not another way out, Sis.", he said with a smirk. "Why are you doing this Stephen?", she asked quietly. "When the asteroid hit, it changed everybody, Amy. Don't you feel different?", he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Different....how?", Amy asked warily. "Strong enough to take over the world!", he exclaimed, a ghastly smile on his face. "I've been feeling different, but not like that!", she exclaimed in horror. "And that's where we're different, Sis. I've got some things to do, so I'll just be off.....oh wait, I have to get you a guard, don't I? I'll take care of that right.....NOW!" As soon as he said that, a sound filled the air, like something being ripped apart. A hole appeared in midair, something jumped out, and the hole closed again. It all took less than 30 seconds. "Wh-what is th-that?", Amy stuttered. "Oh, this? This is a creature from the future, Amy. It's something I call a "Future Being". It'll guard you while I'm gone......just don't try to leave. I'd hate to see my baby sister ripped to pieces before she could even blink." With that, he disappeared into thin air.

"You must wake up, Ashley. Your friend is in danger." A voice forced Ashley to open her eyes. "Wh....what happened?", she asked groggily. "Stephen used his Dark powers to throw you into a car, causing you to black out. Then, he took Amy and disappeared into thin air.", Kaitlynn said calmly. "How can you be so calm?", Ashley shrieked in desperation. Ignoring her, Kaitlynn continued, "On top of that, the magical waves emanating from the asteroid have spread across the neighborhood....soon they will have spread all over Karliville. "Well, you're the Goddess, what do you propose we do?", Ashley snapped. "Well, what did Stephen say to you?" As Ashley explained what he had said, Kaitlynn's face became grave. "We need to find her now....something else, something more powerful is at work here. Something, or someone is using Stephen for their own purposes.", she said. "How do we find them? They could be anywhere!", Ashley cried. 'Follow your heart, Ashley....you should be able to find her....after all, you've been friends for years. You should have an empathy link by now. Look inside yourself, and see if you can feel her.' Taking Kaitlynn's advice, Ashley closed her eyes and slowly let her mind think of only one thing: her best friend, Amy. Suddenly, 'I know where she is!', she exclaimed. 'Let's go then!', Kaitlynn said with a smile.

'Ugh, that thing is horrifying!', Amy thought as she stared at the Future Being. It stared back at her, drool coming from its mouth. As she moved her arm, the creature hissed; she could see many rows of razor-sharp teeth positioned like a shark's in its mouth. 'I wonder how far into the future Stephen found this thing?', she thought curiously. She watched it as the Being reached out with
lightening speed and grabbed a rabbit that had just happened to be hopping by. Amy grimaced as the Being ate it whole, then turned back to her with a guttural growl.'What, I'm not doing anything!', she shouted at it, 'You know what, why don't you just eat me, I don't care!' Suddenly, she caught sight of a movement at the entrance of the cave. Once she understood what was going on, she started shouting at the Being with renewed vigor. 'Hey, you big, gray, ugly thing! I'm over here......why don't you eat me! You'd save Stephen a lot of trouble!' She was surprised when she felt the cold edge of a sword at her throat. She stiffened as Stephen said, 'You're actually right Amy....he'd save me a lot of trouble if he'd just eat you. Then I wouldn't have to listen to your big mouth.' Only then did he notice the shadowy figures at the mouth of the cave. With a grin, he pulled a remote control out of his pocket and aimed it at the Future Being. 'Don't come any closer, Ashley!', he shouted, 'That Being is controlled by the remote control I have with me. One button and you'll be in little pieces; put down your weapons and come towards me.'

Ashley stared at the Being with a mixture of disgust, horror, and curiosity. "What is that?", she thought. As if he had read her mind, Stephen said, "Meet my friend, the Future Being. He and Amy have just been getting acquainted, haven't you, Sis?" He smirked and took the sword from her throat, revealing a thin line of blood. "And don't you dare go anywhere, understand?", he hissed in her ear. As he moved away, he shouted, "Let's GO! You two are as slow as Christmas! Get a move on unless you want to personally meet the Being!" Once up on the ledge, the three girls hugged each other and asked Amy if she was alright. "Yes, very
touching, but unfortunately, your relief is short-lived.", Stephen said mockingly. "What else could you possibly do to us?", Ashley snapped. "Oh, you have no idea....I have something special planned for you...something like a long, slow death by the Future Beings.", he replied. "Wait, Future Beings? As in, there's more than just that one?", Amy asked in amazement. "Oh yes, there's many more...where I'm about to take you, I'd say there's at least a hundred, if not more.", he said with the gleefulness of a child. He raised his hands and Ashley watched in awe as a hole appeared in midair. "I want to learn how to do that!", she thought excitedly. Stephen pointed his sword at them and utterd one word: "March!" They were forced to walk through the shiny, pulsing hole, each
desperately hoping that they weren't going to their deaths.

"Behold, your future!", Stephen shouted as the three girls looked around. "Wh-where are we?", Amy asked. Before he could say anything, Kaitlynn replied, "About three thousand years in the future." "How did you know that?", he asked in amazement. "Come on Stephen, did you really think you were the only one to find this place?", Kaitlynn asked with a smirk on her face, "I'm actually surprised my Beings haven't ripped you to pieces yet!" "Your Beings? You don't control them, I do!", he sputtered. Suddenly, she let out a piercing whistle. "Why did you do that?", he asked. "If they still belong to me, then they'll come to me.". she replied matter-of-factly. Ashley and Amy watched the power struggle in shock, but what happened next shocked them even more. Hundreds of Future Beings were popping up out of nowhere and running over to Kaitlynn. Soon, she was surrounded by them. She shouted, "See? You didn't even know there were this many!" Stephen grimaced as her words were proven true. The girls watched in horror as even more Beings ran over from behind them. "They must have been watching us from the moment we got here.", Amy whispered. "There must be hundreds of them!", Ashley whispered back with a look of amazement on her face. "You like this, don't you? You'd liked to have found this, right? You're just like him!", Amy exclaimed, backing away from her. "What? No! Amy, I'm nothing like him! How could even say that?", Ashley asked in disbelief. "Because you're.....you're....different!", Amy shouted. Suddenly, Ashley raised her hands towards the sky and said, "You will regret saying that, Amy!", she said in a strange gravelly voice. As soon as she said that, her eyes began to change until they were bright orange. A ring of fire sprang up around Amy. looking around, Amy asked, "How could you do this, Ashley? We were best friends!" Tears were evident in her eyes as she spoke. "That was before the asteroid hit, Amy! I've been forced to choose which side I want to be on, good or evil. I tried to be good, but it's too......boring, for lack of a better word. So, I choose Stephen's side! Come with me, Amy....then I won't have to hurt you.", she stated. "I can't do this, Ashley....you're making a mistake. Stephen might have cared about you last week, before the asteroid hit, but he doesn't care now. I'm sorry, I can't come with you.", Amy replied. "Ashley, don't do this! You must stop this, now!", Kaitlynn screamed, wading through the gray sea of Beings. "It's too late....she's hurt me too much!", Ashley replied. Her orange eyes narrowed, and the space where Amy had been went up in flames. Kaitlynn rushed forward, using her powers to quench the flames, but it was too late; Amy was gone. Stephen walked over to Ashley, who was on her knees, sobbing. The Future Beings peered closely at her before moving away nervously. "No! I didn't mean to!", she screamed over and over through sobs. As he walked up, her gaze swung towards him. "You! You made me do this! You made me kill her!", she screamed. "Oh, no...you're not blaming this one on me, Ashley. I didn't do this....you simply gave into your primal instinct.", he replied calmly, "When the asteroid hit, it didn't necessarily change anybody, it just brought out the flaws in our character." "No! I'm not a killer! I would never kill anyone!", she said in horror. "Deep down, Ashley, you know what you are....do not blame this on me...you have no one but yourself to blame", he said before disappearing. Ashley looked around wildly, but he had disappeared into thin air. "Ashley....let's go. I can't hold this open much longer!", Kaitlynn cried. Ashley finally gave up and ran towards the time warp Kaitlynn had opened. Taking a deep breath, she jumped through, followed by Kaitlynn.

"I need an Apprentice!", Stephen exclaimed to himself as he walked along the future KassKass Street. As the Future Beings followed behind at a safe distance, he continued, "I need someone to train, someone who can fight alongside me and recruit people for my cause. He was then surprised to hear a thin, reedy voice say, "I think I'd be a worthwhile Apprentice, if it pleases you, sir." Looking around wildly, he said, "Who are you? Better yet, where are you?", "Down here, sir....right about knee level.", the voice replied. Looking down, Stephen smirked. "You? An Apprentice? You're much too small to be any good at anything!" He
continued to walk, but the voice continued, "I may be small, but I'm a worthwhile opponent!" Finally, Stephen stopped and really looked at the origin of the voice. "You're a....you're a....", he trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. "Yes, I'm a dwarf, sir. I'm also a very good swordsman, if you wish to try me, sir.", the dwarf answered. "So be it, Shorty!", Stephen replied with a grim smile. They drew their swords and circled around each other. "You'll never be able to best me, sir....I'm the best swordsman of my race!", the dwarf panted as they exchanged blows. "Yes, but where does that put you in terms of my race?", Stephen retorted, parrying a blow. Twenty minutes later, he called a halt to the fight. "I think you would make a worthy Apprentice, if you'll tell me you're your name.", he said with a wry grin. "My name is Mairan, sir.'