Somewhere, sometime, some universe away, three beings tumbled from the sky. 

"....aaaaahhhhhaaaaAAAAAaaaAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Tandem yells slowly got louder as a white being, a red being, and some little wierd snake-bug creature got closer to the mist-covered ground. 

Mid-fall, Eclipse sheathed his weapon and grabbed the flapping red cloth mantle of Strygwyr, who was flailing awkwardly with the snake creature clinging to him for dear life in his arms. "Hold on!" The winged paladin said as he regain his orientation. White wings created a drag, half choking the bloodpriest, but slowing their fall. Suddenly, the cloth tore and Strygwyr yelped as he splatted a landing into sloppy swamp mud. 

Eclipse didn't land much more gracefully. There hadn't been much time for them to recover from their sudden teleportation and falling. Mud-covered, Eclipse became aware of the loud chirps of alien creatures around them. He found himself unhurt, and as such, pulled his armored legs underneath himself. "Strygwyr? Are you alright? Where are you?" Some commotion in the swamp nearby drew his attention. 

It looked like two swamp beasts were wrestling each other, but it was actually Strygwyr repeatedly trying to get the little dank creature off himself while the latter kept jumping on him for saftey. "GAh!" He barked and threw it off himself once more, then attempted to bound away in the thick, impeding mud. "What is this?!" He called in desperation, struggling to move.

Eclipse held out his hand toward the thing. "It's alright. We're fine. Come here little creature. We're away from those monsters now, but I have no idea where exactly. I have a feeling we have got some time to figure this out." 

A frown of white teeth on a mud-covered face displayed Strygwyr's discontent. "Too much time in a bloodless land."

~~~~----``----~~~~~

Concentrating more on getting up, Mithias didn't relly hear what Mia had said. "Hrmmf? Mia..." He rubbed his head and obediently began walking forward. "Okay. Sure... Whatever you wish." By now, he had recovered enough from the pain of his "surgery" to be coherent to ome degree. Blinking to clear the haze, he saw that Najimi, Asura, Teo, Kevin, and Creed were all walking into a portal, which he recognized lead to the coffee lounge. 

The lounge. Oh yes. They were all just there before this craziness began, but the place had been empty for the longest time. Did they go back in time? Mithias had been collecting items and remnants from the coffee lounge's past, from the people that had been there, when suddenly his efforts had generated the orb of hope. He suddenly remembered what had happened to it and placed a hand over himself. Yes, it was still there, and always would be there as long as these other beings lived and came together. The orb seemed to be a tiny piece of the life of the multiverse, whatever that was. 

Mithias looked up to see that everyone else had gone through the portal and Mia was looking at him intently. Didn't she just say something about kidneys? !! He hurried over. 

Mithias traversed the portal and this time found himself in an active, busy coffee lounge. This was just like the way he remembered it when he first arrived and met the owner of the lounge, Bob. Would Bob be there? Mithias frowned slightly as he recalled their first meeting. He would never forget his 'hazing' experience. 

Mithias looked over at the naive and enthusiastic Teo. "Hey Teo." The vampire tried to get the cartoon scientist's attention. "Teo, if you meet someone named Bob and he offers you a drink..." Mithias suddenly halted in his speach. A twinkling of sadism kicked in that he had never known before. "... You know, forget I said anything. Enjoy yourself!" Mithias patted Teo on the back and smiled reassuringly. 

Moving on, Mithias was reminded of a few other things about Bob in particular and about the monster in a black labcoat that he had seen talk with Bob. The pain he had felt in his soul so recently was the same as he had felt when the gray-haired man had looked into his eyes that day. Bob had protected him then, but now? Now what would happen? Mithias ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't left Bob on good terms. In fact, the last time he had ever seen Bob was right after having uncharismatically punched him across the face. Boy he regretted that. He had never been able to find the being in the sparkly, red suit to apologize.